Thyroid and gonadal regulation of hair growth during the seasonal molt in the male European badger, Meles meles L

Abstract

In the male badger we showed that hair growth and molt are related to plasma testosterone and thyroxine cycles. We established the action of testosterone by castration and subcutaneous testosterone implants, and the action of thyroxine by thyroidectomy and dietary supplementation with thyroxine. The following groups of animals were studied; controls, thyroidectomized, thyroidectomized and thyroxine-treated, castrated, castrated and thyroxine-treated, thyroidectomized and castrated and thyroxine-treated, castrated and testosterone-implanted, and intact testosterone-implanted. In control animals, molt and hair growth occurred during the summer, with a maximum growth in autumn. Molt ended at the beginning of winter when the plasma testosterone level had started to rise, and began again after this level had started to decline. Both the start of molt and the period of maximum hair growth coincided with high thyroxine levels of about 20 ng/ml. Castration advanced molt and hair follicle activity, whereas testosterone implants delayed both molt and hair growth. In thyroidectomized badgers, neither hair growth nor seasonal molt was observed. However, when thyroxine levels were restored to 20 ng/ml or more by dietary T 4 supplementation, molting was resumed in animals that had undergone either thyroidectomy or thyroidectomy plus castration. In those that underwent castration only, the molt was advanced leading to early hair growth further stimulated by the suppression of testosterone. Testosterone had an inhibitory effect on the molt—since testosterone implants in intact control animals delayed it by 4 weeks—but did not inhibit it completely. On the other hand, a T 4-enriched diet advanced the date of the molt. However, the molt could not be induced, nor could hair follicle growth be reactivated, at all times during the annual cycle. Thus, in castrated animals, T 4 enrichment of the diet in early January, at the end of the molt, caused follicle reactivation only toward the end of May, despite the lack of testosterone. This 18-week latency period from January to May might therefore constitute a “refractory period” in this species. The above findings show that the regulation of the seasonal molt and hair growth in the European badger involves both the thyroid and genital axes. This regulation is discussed in terms of joint control by the hypothalamus and pituitary governed, in turn, by an external factor—the photoperiod—considered to be the main synchronizer.