Abstract
Summary
The influence of an estrogen antagonist, MER-25, on androgen sterilization was examined. Micropellets of MER-25-paraffin mixture, containing 42 μg of the antiestrogen per pellet on an average, were implanted bilaterally into the hypothalamus of 4-day-old female rats which received a subcutaneous injection of 30 μg of TP at 5 days of age. The amount of TP was, therefore, considered a threshold level for sterilization. In MER-25 implanted, TP-injected females, 10 out of 15 showed sterility, and the remaining 5 had fresh CL in their ovaries. No significant block by the antiestrogen of androgen-sterilization was detected. The previous interpretation of androgen-sterilization as an exclusively estrogen function must be, therefore, accepted with some reservation.
MER-25 was generously supplied by Merrell-National Laboratories, Cincinnati, Ohio.
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