Failure of Ovulation in Autografted Ovary of Hemispayed Rat

Adult and prepuberal female rats were hemispayed and autografted (s.c. or i.m.). None of the autografts exhibited signsof ovulation. The ovary insitu showed a compensatory hypertrophy and normal ovulation. In rats in which both ovaries were autografted and in rats with 2 autografted and 1 isografted ovary, all ovaries ovulatcd normally. These results refute the hypothesis that antiovary-antibodies or a disparity in gonadotrophin/ovarian mass is responsible for the failure in ovulation. The possibility that the peripheral nervous system can play some role in the mechanism of ovulation and in the regulation of gonadotrophins is discussed.