Response of Neonatal Female Rats to Reserpine and Testosterone

Abstract

Neonatal female rats treated with testosterone (12.5 μg/day) from days 4–8, or with a single injection of 62.5 μg of testosterone propionate on day 5, exhibit the persistent oestrus-anovulatory syndrome. The simultaneous injection of 6 μg reserpine/day (days 4–8) or a single injection of 30 μg of reserpine failed to alter the effect of testosterone propionate. Neonatal administration of reserpine alone, whether in multiple or single injections of the same aforementioned dosages, exerted no deleterious effect on the oestrus cycles of female rats. However, the ovaries of reserpine treated animals were heavily luteinized.