Depression of Decidual Growth in the Rat With Lh Antiserum and Pituitary Autotransplantation

Ovarian Responses to Perphenazine-lnduced Prolactin Secretion in the Rat: Effect of Ovulation, Stress, and Steroids

“…Although prolactin without LH is insufficient to maintain progesterone secretion for more than 6 days in rats that have received cervical stimulation (5)(6)(7), prolactin alone is adequate to maintain progesterone secretion during postpartum lactation (8) or in unmated rats whose pituitaries have been autotransplanted beneath the kidney capsule 1 or 2 days after ovulation (9,10).…”

“…The response to this dose in the absence of stress may, therefore, be considerably more rapid than that to the 2.5 mg dose. Earlier studies (8)(9)(10) have shown that prolactin may be luteotropic in the absence of gonadotropins, particularly when the corpora lutea have not been exposed to prolonged LH secretion after ovulation as occurs after mating (25,26) or cervical stimulation (26). Although the increase in serum progesterone in the absence of stress after five daily injections of 2.5 mg perphenazine/kg body wt could be the result of a decrease in the activity of ovarian 20a-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, the increase observed when the 5.0 mg dose was administered cannot, since both serum progesterone and 20a-OHP increased.…”