This study investigated the effects of oral administration of nicotine on body and reproductive organ weight, serum testosterone level and testicular histology in adult male rats. Forty male rats divided into five groups and treated for a period of 30 days with 0.5mg/kg (low dose) and 1.0 mg/kg (high dose) body weight of nicotine while the control rats received 0.2 ml/kg normal saline. The four...

Crustacean reproduction is regulated by a complex chain of hormonal interactions in which the crustacean hyperglycaemic hormones A and B (CHH-A and CHH-B) and the gonad-inhibiting hormone (GIH) play a primary role. These neurohormones are produced in the same neuroendocrine cells of the X-organ sinus gland complex, situated in the eyestalks of the American lobster, Homarus americanus. In order ...

Gene expression throughout the reproductive process in rice (Oryza sativa) beginning with primordia development through pollination/fertilization to zygote formation was analyzed. We analyzed 25 stages/organs of rice reproductive development including early microsporogenesis stages with 57,381 probe sets, and identified around 26,000 expressed probe sets in each stage. Fine dissection of 25 rep...

During the preadult development of Drosophila melanogaster, the GLD (glucose dehydrogenase) gene (Gld) is expressed in a variety of tissues, including the immature reproductive tract. At the adult stage the expression of Gld becomes largely restricted to the reproductive tract of males and females. We examined the expression of GLD in the adult reproductive tract of 50 species in the genus Dros...

1. Numerous studies have suggested that basal metabolic rate (BMR) is related to variation in mass of specific ‘energy-expensive’ organs such as heart and kidney. 2. However, there are inconsistencies among studies with regard to those organs that show positive relationships with BMR, potentially because such studies assume constant organ metabolic intensity or capacity (e.g. oxidative activity...

This Target Organ Symposium is the 10th in a continuing series. Only one previous Target Organ Symposium, that on the gonads, dealt with the endocrine system. The Organizing Committee for the Endocrine Target Organ Symposium fully recognizes the diversity of scientific topics to be included into this two-day period. Nevertheless, it seemed just as defensible to include these diverse topics into...

The song system of songbirds consists of an interconnected set of forebrain nuclei that has traditionally been regarded as dedicated to the learning and production of song. Here, however, we suggest that the song system could also influence muscles used in reproductive behaviour, such as the cloacal sphincter muscle. We show that the same medullary nucleus, retroambigualis (RAm), that projects ...

The cloaca/urogenital sinus and its adjacent region differentiate into the urogenital/reproductive organs. Caudal regression syndrome (CRS; including mermaid syndrome), a type of severe cloacal malformation displays hindlimb fusion and urogenital organ defects, thus suggesting that such defects are caused by several morphogenetic alterations during early development. The attenuation of bone mor...

Mate choice is mediated by a range of sensory cues, and assortative mating based on these cues can drive reproductive isolation among diverging populations. A specific feature of mormyrid fish, the electric organ discharge (EOD), is used for electrolocation and intraspecific communication. We hypothesized that the EOD also facilitates assortative mating and ultimately promotes prezygotic reprod...

—Reproductive organ morphologies in members of the Stylocheiron longicorne species-group are compared. Although reproductive structures of 3 of the 7 species are unique, those of S. microphthalma, S. suhmii, S. affine, and S. longicorne are very similar, with minor differences possibly attributable to maturity of the structures. Other allegedly speciesspecific characters (primarily eye structur...