QUANTITATIVE STUDIES ON THE HORMONAL INDUCTION OF OESTRUS IN SPAYED EWES
SUMMARY Seven trials were conducted with sixty-nine ovariectomized Suffolk cross-bred ewes to determine the requirements of oestradiol benzoate (ODB), given alone or preceded by 75 mg progesterone (6 × 12·5 mg in oil over 3 days, followed 2 days later by oestrogen), for oestrous behaviour and characteristic vaginal changes. Progesterone pretreatment resulted in a marked increase of sensitivity to oestrogen. For oestrus, the respective values of the median effective dose (ED 50) for ODB preceded by progesterone and for ODB alone were 22 and 64 μg, the difference being significant (P<0·001). The 99% fiducial limits associated with these estimates were respectively 19 and 26 μg and 52 and 81 μg. For vaginal changes the corresponding values were 10-14-17 and 20-24-28 (P<0·001). Progesterone pretreatment resulted in an apparently steeper dose-response line for oestrus, and advanced the mean time of onset by about 12 hr. The behaviour pattern following progesterone—ODB appeared to differ from that following ODB alone. Oestrus in the ewe appears to be under dual hormonal control. Endogenous oestrogen production is insufficient to induce the full psychic and physiological changes associated with normal oestrus, unless the animal has been conditioned previously by progesterone.