Abstract
Summary
Female rats were cesarean delivered on days 22, 23 and 24 of gestation and treated with 100 μg testosterone propionate on various neonatal days. Certain mothers were administered progesterone prior to delivery of the offspring. Prematurely delivered rats had a longer critical period for androgenization than animals delivered on day 24 indicating that the responsiveness of the hypothalamus to androgens is age dependent. Although early testosterone treatment of the prematurely delivered rat resulted in a failure of vaginal opening, androgen treatment on subsequent days (5–10) advanced the timing of vaginal opening, while progesterone administration to the mother prevented this effect.
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