Breast engorgement and galactorrhea were observed in many patients receiving ritodrine treatment to delay labor due to premature contractions. In an attempt to understand the causes for these phenomena, serum prolactin, progesterone, estradiol and estriol excretion were measured in 11 women. No statistical difference was found in these parameters after ritodrine administration. It can thus be assumed that breast engorgement and galactorrhea after ritodrine treatment are unrelated to changes in these hormones but might be mediated by some other factors or probably by the premature contractions themselves.

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The aim of this study is to assess the effect of the polyphenol curcumin on lipid peroxidation (LPO) in the homogenate of the cerebral hemispheres from rats exposed to the round-the-clock lighting (RCL) and kept on high-calorie carbohydrate-lipid diet (HCCLD). The experiments were performed on 21 white male Wistar rats weighing 210-250 g, divided into 3 groups of 7 animals each. Animals of group 1 (control I) were kept on a standard vivarium diet and equal alternation of light and darkness periods. Rats of groups 2 and 3 during the period of RCL in the setting of HCCLD were daily injected 1 ml of 20% aqueous fructose solution intragastrically through a probe ("placebo", control II) and curcumin in a dose of 200 mg/kg, respectively. The level of lipid peroxidation in the cerebral homogenate was assessed by the formation of a colored trimethine complex in the reaction with thiobarbituric acid (TBA). Keeping rats on the RCL and HCCLD was accompanied by a significant increase in the concentration of TBA reactants before and after the incubation in pro-oxidant buffer solution, by 59.0 and 68.8%, respectively. The administration of curcumin under the experimental conditions significantly reduced the concentration of TBA-active products: before its incubation in the pro-oxidant buffer solution – by 24.4%, after the incubation – by 31.0% compared to the corresponding values in the 2nd group. This enables us to conclude that the administration of the polyphenol curcumin under exposing rats to RCL and keeping them on HCCLD significantly limits the LPO development in the cerebral homogenate of the cerebral hemispheres.