The premammillary nucleus of the hypothalamus is not necessary for photoperiodic timekeeping in female turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo)

Ashli F. Moore; Vincent M. Cassone; Kevin D. Alloway; Paul A. Bartell

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0190274

The premammillary nucleus of the hypothalamus is not necessary for photoperiodic timekeeping in female turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo)

Ashli F. Moore, Vincent M. Cassone, Kevin D. Alloway, Paul A. Bartell

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

In birds, seasonal reproduction is regulated by day length, with long days in the spring activating the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis and reproductive behaviors. The photoreceptors mediating this process remain unknown, but recently, the premammillary nucleus (PMM) of the hypothalamus has been implicated as the site of photoperiodic signaling in turkeys. We performed electrolytic lesions of the PMM to elucidate its role in the photoactivation and maintenance of egg production in female turkeys. Our results show that ablation of the PMM does not alter the normal lay cycle. No differences were found between lesioned birds and sham controls in the latency to lay following photostimulation, nor in subsequent egg production over a period of 29 weeks. No differences in the incidence of gonadal regression were found, indicating that the PMM is not essential for the termination of breeding. We conclude that any role of the PMM in photoperiodic regulation, if it exists, is redundant with other components of the system.

Original language	English
Article number	e0190274
Journal	PLoS ONE
Volume	13
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0190274
State	Published - Feb 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Moore et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2014-67012-21608 to AFM, https://nifa.usda.gov/. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. We are grateful to Dr. Michael Hulet for husbandry protocols, Dr. Jared Smith for valuable advice on neurosurgical techniques, and Dr. Chad Dechow for statistical advice. We also thank undergraduate researchers Elana Keller and Eric Salevsky for surgical assistance, Graham Gorgas for help designing and constructing trap nests, and Jun Yi for assistance with histological processing. Turkey poults were generously provided by Aviagen Turkeys. This work was supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2014-67012-21608.

Funders	Funder number
U.S. Department of Agriculture	2014-67012-21608
National Institute of Food and Agriculture

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abstract = "In birds, seasonal reproduction is regulated by day length, with long days in the spring activating the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis and reproductive behaviors. The photoreceptors mediating this process remain unknown, but recently, the premammillary nucleus (PMM) of the hypothalamus has been implicated as the site of photoperiodic signaling in turkeys. We performed electrolytic lesions of the PMM to elucidate its role in the photoactivation and maintenance of egg production in female turkeys. Our results show that ablation of the PMM does not alter the normal lay cycle. No differences were found between lesioned birds and sham controls in the latency to lay following photostimulation, nor in subsequent egg production over a period of 29 weeks. No differences in the incidence of gonadal regression were found, indicating that the PMM is not essential for the termination of breeding. We conclude that any role of the PMM in photoperiodic regulation, if it exists, is redundant with other components of the system.",

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AU - Bartell, Paul A.

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The premammillary nucleus of the hypothalamus is not necessary for photoperiodic timekeeping in female turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo)

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

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