Abstract
Three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus, males were implanted with Silastic capsules filled with different aromatase inhibitors; 1,4,6-androstatriene-3,17-dione or the non-steroidal CGS16949 A, 4-(5,6,7,8-tetrahydrimidazol [1,5-a]pyridin-5-yl) benzonitrile monohydrochloride or empty capsules. The fish were then exposed to long or short photoperiod. Under the long photoperiod most fish in all treatments displayed a hypertrophied kidney (a secondary sexual character in sticklebacks) and completed, quiescent spermatogenesis, similar as in the natural spawning period. Under the short photoperiod the controls had unstimulated kidneys and an active spermatogenesis, whereas the males implanted with both aromatase inhibitors had stimulated kidneys, though not to the extent as in the long photoperiod, and completed, quiescent spermatogenesis. These findings suggest that aromatization is of importance for the inhibitory effects of short photoperiod on reproduction in the stickleback.
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Bornestaf, C., Antonopoulou, E., Mayer, I. et al. Effects of aromatase inhibitors on reproduction in male three-spined sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus, exposed to long and short photoperiods. Fish Physiology and Biochemistry 16, 419–423 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007776517447
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007776517447