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Australian Journal of Biological Sciences Australian Journal of Biological Sciences Society
Biological Sciences
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Immunological Aspects of Gestation in the Tammar Wallaby, Macropus eugenii

KZ Walker and CH Tyndale-Biscoe

Australian Journal of Biological Sciences 31(2) 173 - 182
Published: 1978

Abstract

Sensitization to male histocompatibility antigens and repeated pregnancy to the same male were found to have little effect on fertility or length of gestation in the tammar wallaby, M. eugenii. However, in some sensitized females a long interval occurred between removal of pouch young and the next birth. In addition to studies on fertility, the immunological response of female tammars to their mate has been examined by one-way mixed leucocyte culture (MLC) carried out at the beginning and end of one breeding season. In virgin females, examined at the beginning of the breeding season, the MLC response to the prospective mate peaked on day 6. In contrast, by the end of the season, MLC responses were much lower and peaked earlier, on day 3 to day 5.

https://doi.org/10.1071/BI9780173

© CSIRO 1978

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