Abstract
Summary
Rats were hypophysectomized on the morning of the day of metestrus and remained untreated for 2 days. One group was then sacrificed; another group received 0.2 ml saline twice daily for 7 days, and a final group received 2 IU rat prolactin twice daily for 7 days. These two latter groups were sacrificed the day after the last injection. Ovarian weights were significantly reduced (p < 0.01) by treatment with rat prolactin. Histological sections of the ovarian tissue revealed a reduction in corpus luteum size and in the number of luteal cells. These findings suggest that prolactin is involved in luteal regression in normally cycling rats.
The authors thank the Endocrinology Study Section, National Institutes of Health, NIAMD, Rat Pituitary Horrmone Program for the rat prolactin used in this study.
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