Effects of Limiting Water Intake on the Rat Estrous Cycle with Observations on LH, Prolactin, and Corticosterone

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Abstract
By the fifth week of restricting water intake at 1100 to a 15-min period per day, estrous cycle lengths had shifted in most animals (31/40) from 4 to 5 days with the 5-day cycles usually consisting of 3 days of diestrus. In the 5-day cycling rats, plasma corticosterone peaked at 1100 and also at 1900 hr, the proestrous surge in plasma LH was not significantly changed, although the variation in individual animals was greater and the prolactin surge was prolonged. Similar prolonged cycles followed water restriction at 1800 hr with animals returning to regular 4-day cycles when given water to ad libitum. These results suggest that the alteration of the normal corticosteroid rhythm and/or changes in prolactin secretion may account, in part at least, for the changes noted in cycle length after restricting the water intake.

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