BIOCHEMICAL AND HISTOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE CORPORA LUTEA OF THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT, LOXODONTA AFRICANA

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Abstract
Progesterone determinations were carried out on 11 corpora lutea obtained from 6 African elephants in various stages of the estrous cycle and pregnancy. In no case was it possible to detect any progesterone whatsoever, even when using an extremely sensitive gas chromatographic technique, coupled with an internal isotope standard of C414-progesterone to correct for extraction losses. The histological appearance of many of the corpora lutea in these elephants suggested that they might be degenerate structures. It is therefore postulated that the functional life of the elephant''s corpus luteum may be relatively short, even though it persists structurally for long periods of time. However, we cannot entirely exclude the possibility that the elephant''s corpus luteum never secretes progesterone at all.

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