Oestrus cycle of the Desert hamster (Phodopus roborovskii, Satunin, 1903)

E. Scheibler*, Franziska Wollnik

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The Desert hamster, Phodopus roborovskii, is one of the lesser-known laboratory animal models and therefore knowledge of its reproductive system and physiology is limited. This study investigated the time course of vaginal and behavioural oestrus cycles by means of vaginal smear cytology, serum luteinizing hormone (LH) levels, wheel-running activity patterns, and pairing tests. The oestrus cycle lasts between four and six days and follows a pattern rather similar to that described for other rodent species. An important finding of this study is the existence of a fifth cycle stage between pre-oestrus and oestrus, the so-called early oestrus. Early oestrus differs from pre-oestrus by a complete lack of leucocytes in the vaginal cytology and a dramatic increase of serum LH levels just before activity onset. The early oestrus stage lasts 4-6 h, but was not observed in every female. When present it affects the length of the whole oestrus cycle. With early oestrus the pre-oestrus stage lasts only 14-18 h and the total length of the oestrus cycle length is four days. Without early oestrus, the pre-oestrus is prolonged to 18-36 h and the oestrus cycle length varies between four and six days. Desert hamsters showed only subtle oestrus-correlated changes in wheel-running activity, i.e. they failed to show the characteristic scalloping of activity onset, but showed prolonged activity during early oestrus. Pairing tests revealed characteristic changes in the relative frequencies of socio-positive, neutral, aggressive and sexual behaviour during the course of the oestrus cycle, with an elevated level of sexual behaviour during oestrus.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)301-311
Number of pages11
JournalLaboratory Animals
Volume47
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2013
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • oestrus cycle
  • vaginal smears
  • activity
  • behaviour
  • luteinizing hormone (LH)
  • ESTROUS-CYCLE
  • GOLDEN-HAMSTER
  • DJUNGARIAN HAMSTERS
  • MONGOLIAN GERBIL
  • MERIONES-UNGUICULATUS
  • HORMONAL-REGULATION
  • FEMALE HAMSTERS
  • SEXUAL-BEHAVIOR
  • PROGESTERONE
  • ORGANIZATION

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Oestrus cycle of the Desert hamster (Phodopus roborovskii, Satunin, 1903)'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this