CONCERNING THE MECHANISM OF DIESTRUM DURING LACTATION IN THE ALBINO RAT

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Abstract
IN THE past ten years, much research work has been devoted to the problem of lactation anestrum. The lactogenic hormone of the pituitary, “prolactin”, has been shown to have a definite inhibitory action on the estrous cycles of rat and mouse (Dresel; Lahr and Riddle; Nathanson and Fevold; Nathanson, Fevold and Jennison) and recent publications have emphasized the so-called luteotropic properties of prolactin; i.e., the maintenance of functional corpora lutea (Evans, Simpson, Lyons and Turpeinen). In the light of these results, it would seem that these two properties of the lactogenic hormone provide a satisfactory explanation of the behavior of the gonads during lactation without the need of postulating changes in the gonadotropic activity of the hypophysis during this period. That the matter is not so simple is indicated by the following considerations.