Abstract
Summary
Female Holtzman rats were treated for 3–14 days with daily doses of phenobarbital (37 mg/kg, ip) or chlordane (25 mg/kg, ip) which caused a 10-fold increase in the hydroxylation of acetanilide by hepatic microsomes. Mature females treated with phenobarbital continued to cycle, exhibited preovulatory increases in serum luteinizing hormone (LH), and ovulated normally during a 2-week treatment period. In similar rats, ovariectomized 1 month earlier, the rate of disappearance of LH and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) from the serum following hypophysectomy was unaltered by 2 weeks of phenobarbital or chlordane treatment. In immature females in which ovulation was induced with pregnant mare's serum, the preovulatory increase in serum LH concentration and subsequent ovulation were not altered by activation of hepatic microsomal enzymes. These results suggest that treatment of rats with phenobarbital does not block ovulation by mechanisms involving hepatic enzymes and/or estrogen metabolism.
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