The endocrinology of puberty and reproductive functioning in female cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) under varying social conditions

Sexual maturation and fertility were assessed in fourteen cotton-top tamarin (Saguinus oedipus) females under various social conditions. Six tamarin females (20-28 mo of age) showed a suppression of fertility while living with their families. Hormonal profiles demonstrated low, acyclic levels of urinary luteinizing hormone (LH) and estrone-conjugates (E1C). A rapid onset of ovarian and pituitary cyclicity occurred when four of the six females were removed from their families and paired with an unrelated male. In one female, an ovulatory LH peak occurred as early as eight days after pairing and resulted in conception and full-term pregnancy. Two of the six females were housed in total isolation for 30 days following their removal from the family and prior to pairing. Gradual increases in hormone concentrations occurred during isolation; however, there was no ovarian cyclicity until each female was paired with an unrelated male. In all six females, conception occurred before or as a result of the third ovulatory cycle. Partial isolation of a 36-mo-old female resulted in elevated LH and E1C levels, but cyclicity was not observed until the female was paired with an unrelated male. These findings indicate that removal of a female from the family alone does not initiate ovarian cycling. Sexual maturation, or puberty, occurs in female tamarins living with their families between 15 and 17 mo of age when mean LH and E1C levels began to increase. However, when a female is removed and paired at 9 mo of age with an unrelated male, elevated levels of LH and E1C may be seen by 10 and 11 mo of age. Our findings indicate that a suppression of fertility occurs in cotton-top tamarins living with their families, but that reproductive suppression does not affect the process of sexual maturation. Both removal from the family environment and stimulation by an unrelated male tamarin were necessary to induce normal reproductive activity. An acceleration of puberty occurred when a female tamarin was removed from her family early in development and paired with a male.