Effect of Oxytocin Upon Litter Weight Gain in Rats.

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Abstract
Summary The influence of one or more hormones on the intensity of milk secretion in rats has been determined by a method developed in this laboratory. Significant increases in milk yield have been observed. However, the litter weights of the control and experimental groups have been quite similar. In explanation of these observations, it has been suggested that when milk secretion is intense that the litters do not obtain all of the milk available due to the limited amount of oxytocin discharged and its short biological half-life. When 1 unit of oxytocin was injected at 6-hour intervals/day to enable the nursing young to obtain more of the available milk, the mean litter weight was increased 29 g, a highly significant increase of 13%. It was shown also that not all of the milk is removed at the regular hourly nursing period, by the removal of 7.33 g of milk when 1 unit of oxytocin was injected at nursing time compared to 1.7 g of milk without exogenous oxytocin.