EFFECTS OF PROGESTERONE AND 17-BETA-ESTRADIOL TREATMENTS ON THE PANCREATIC-B CELL IN CASTRATED FEMALE RATS BIOCHEMICAL VARIATIONS

  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 74  (8) , 725-730
Abstract
The biochemical effects of progesterone and/or estradiol treatments on castrated female rats were compared to those of control olive-oil injections. The steroid treatments used produced physiological concentrations of the 2 hormones in peripheral plasma, comparable to those obtained during pregnancy. Glycemia remained within a normal range for all the treatments. Circulating immunoreactive insulin (IRI) increased in the steroid-treated rats and the values reached those of the pregnant animals. The biochemical modifications that occur during the steroid treatment (especially with the combined treatment) are quite comparable to what happens during pregnancy and explain, at least in part, the altered carbohydrate and lipid metabolism and the hyperactivity in the B cell, resulting in an increased insulin secretion.