Project Number: 6612-31000-014-02
Project Type: Nonfunded Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Mar 12, 2007
End Date: Jan 01, 2009

Objective:
1. To determine if the neuropeptide, kisspeptin, regulates luteinizing hormone secretion in the gilt. 2. Determine if the action of kisspeptin in regulating luteinizing hormone secretion is at the level of the brain or the pituitary gland. 3. Identify and sequence the kisspeptin gene.

Approach:
Infertility is one of the major contributors to economic loss in the livestock industry. In pigs, infertility is a major cause of decreased numbers of animals marketed per year, which leads reduced income and increased economic instability for producers. One of the primary reasons for infertility is that animals fail to exhibit estrus cycles (anestrous) and ovulate. The newly identified hormone kisspeptin (Kiss) has been implicated as a potent stimulant of LH secretion in rodents and monkeys. Regulation of Kiss may underlie the lack of LH secretion that is characteristic to multiple anestrous states in pigs. In vivo and in vitro techniques such as intra-cerebroventricular infusion of Kiss peptide, tissue culture and RNA isolation and PCR , will be used to dertmine the function of kisspeptin in regulating luteinizing hormone secretion.