Seasonal and Sexual Differences in the Effects of Parathyroidectomy in the Indian Garden Lizard Calotes versicolor with a Note on Follicle Formation in Reptilian Parathyroids

Abstract

AbstractMale and female C. versicolor were parathyroidectomized and/or administered with parathyroid extract during summer and winter. Sexual as well as seasonal differences were noticed in the effects. The results correlate with the often reported seasonal histophysiological changes in the parathyroids, suggesting "physiological parathyroidectomy" in winter lizards. Oestrogen induced hypercalcemiaappears to prevail in female lizards during the breeding season. Seasonal histological studies on the parathyroids ofthis lizard suggest that the often reported parathyroid follicles in reptiles originate due to degeneration of secretory parenchyma and that the follicular luminal content is only a condensate of the material released during degeneration. Though such follicle formation has also been reported in mammalian parathyroids, the causative factors seem to differ.