[Effect of thyroidectomy on variations during the spring and summer of the testicular activity and blood prolactin in the mink].

The possible role of thyroid hormones in the setting of sexual quiescence was investigated in the mink, since levels of thyroid hormones were earlier shown to rise while testicular activity decreased. When performed at the beginning of the sexual period, thyroidectomy transiently stimulated testosterone production, and significantly prolonged the duration of maximal testicular development. These results indicate that mink conforms to a pattern of inhibitory thyroid-testis interactions similar to that previously described in several species of birds and mammals. Thyroidectomy was unable, however, to prevent ultimately the installation of sexual quiescence which also appears independent of the photoperiod. On the other hand, thyroidectomy did not modify, from February to October, the general pattern of prolactin secretion, even though the vernal stimulation of prolactin secretion, induced by increasing daylength, was significantly enhanced in the absence of thyroid hormones.