Abstract
Summary
TSR estimation of Sprague-Dawley-Rolfsmeyer strains of rats at 55 and 85 days of age was found to be highly significantly reduced by 22.8% and 14.8% respectively with subcutaneous injection of 50 μg melatonin/rat at 55 days, and 75 μg/ rat at 85 days but not by 100 μg/rat at 115 days of age. These results indicate that melatonin depresses TSR but the effect appears to be reduced with advaancing age. Feed consumption was reduced 8.76%, a nonsignificant reduction, in 115-day-old rats injected s/c with 100 μg melatonin/day/rat for a period of 12 days. The effect may be cumulative due to increasing doses of melatonin during each TSR estimation at monthly intervals. At the end of the experiment, the mean ovarian weight showed a highly significant reduction of 30.1% and the pituitary weight of 34.6% in comparison with the control group. In contrast, the mean adrenal weight showed a highly significant increase of 22.7%.
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