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Department of Physiology, University Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh, EH8 9AG

(Received 20 March 1978)

Ageing female rats maintained under standard laboratory lighting conditions (14 h light: 10 h darkness) frequently enter a state of persistent vaginal cornification because the pituitary gland fails to provide an ovulatory surge of gonadotrophic hormones. The ovaries of such animals become dominated by growing and cystic follicles as the corpora lutea disappear. The concentrations of prolactin in the pituitary gland and the circulation during persistent oestrus are known to be raised for at least part of the day (Clemens & Meites, 1971; Mallampati & Johnson, 1974; Shaar, Euker, Riegle & Meites, 1975; J. E. Beach, R. G. Gosden & J. W. Everett, unpublished observations). A possible antigonadotrophic role of prolactin in the aetiology of the persistent oestrous condition should be considered because of the known inverse relationship between the release of prolactin and gonadotrophins