Decreased functional ovarian reserve, as approximated by serum day 3 FSH levels, correlates with known cardiovascular risk factors. Declining ovarian function prior to estrogen deficiency may be a cardiac risk factor. The premenopausal ovary may be a source of cardioprotective substance other than estradiol. We hypothesize that factors other than 17beta-estradiol, but related to ovarian function, might contribute to cardiovascular risk.

The relationship between the chronic intrauterine injection of PGE2 every four hours adjacent or opposite to the corpus luteum on luteal function was studied. Intrauterine infusions every four hours of PGE2 (500 mug) from days 10 to 17 postestrus maintained luteal function only when infused into a uterine horn adjacent to a luteal-bearing ovary of unilaterally ovariectomized sheep with surgically separated uterine cornua. These data are compatible with the hypothesis that PGE2 is a good candidate for the antiluteolysin since it works only through a similar local pathway as the embryo during early pregnancy to sustain the corpus luteum.

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