Role of the Thyroid Gland in Seasonal Reproduction: Thyroidectomy Blocks Seasonal Suppression of Reproductive Neuroendocrine Activity in Ewes*

Abstract

Seasonal reproductive transitions in ewes are generated endogenously and are synchronized by annual changes in photoperiod. Previous evidence indicates that thyroidectomy prevents the transition to anestrus in ewes maintained in a fixed day length, suggesting that the thyroid is needed for endogenously generated reproductive arrest. Here we tested the hypothesis that the thyroid is required for endogenous seasonal suppression of the neuroendocrine mechanism that regulates pulsatile LH secretion. Ewes were thyroidectomized (n = 6) in summer, 6 weeks before the onset of the breeding season, or they remained thyroid intact (n = 6). They were housed in a simulated natural photoperiod until the winter solstice; thereafter, they remained on that photoperiod (10 h of light, 14 h of darkness). To monitor pulsatile LH secretion, the ewes were ovariectomized and implanted with estradiol, and LH was measured in both frequent (every 6 min for 4 h) and infrequent (twice weekly) blood samples. In this model, high LH indicates low response to estradiol negative feedback and reproductive induction; low LH signifies high response to estradiol negative feedback and reproductive arrest. LH levels (samples twice weekly) rose some 50-fold in both groups concurrently at the start of the breeding season in September. Frequent sampling in midbreeding season (autumn) revealed that both thyroidectomized and thyroid-intact ewes exhibited frequent LH pulses, with no group difference, in either the presence or absence of the estradiol implant. A marked group difference, however, emerged at the end of the breeding season. LH fell to basal values in thyroid-intact ewes (onset of low values Feb 3 +/- 8 days), whereas levels remained elevated in thyroidectomized ewes through the end of the study (April 26). At this time, thyroidectomized ewes had more frequent LH pulses than thyroid-intact ewes both in the presence and absence of estradiol. The circadian pattern of melatonin secretion and the seasonal change in PRL were found to be unaffected by thyroidectomy. These observations support the hypothesis that the thyroid is necessary for endogenous suppression of neuroendocrine mechanisms that generate LH pulses, a suppression crucial for the transition to anestrus.