Unilateral Relationship of Embryos and the Corpus Luteum in Cattle

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Metabolism of progesterone in ovaries of prepubertal rats has been investigated by incubating intact ovaries from immature rats in Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate buffer containing 10-6 M progesterone-4-[14C] and isolating the radioactive metabolites formed after varying periods of incubation. Androsterone was the most abundant metabolite produced by ovaries from 28-30-day-old rats. Luteinizing hormone (LH) injected 0.5-4 h before autopsy, or added directly to incubation media, resulted in markedly decreased formation of androsterone with a concomitant proportional increase in production of 3α-OH-5α-pregnane-20-one (3α-OH-5α-P). Production of other androgens (androstenedione, testosterone, 5α-androstane-3α,17β-diol), which accumulated in smaller amounts than androsterone, was also inhibited by LH. Prolactin administration for 6 days before autopsy resulted in only minor alterations of progesterone metabolism, causing small increases in accumulation of 5α-pregnane-3,20-dione (5α-P) and 3α-OH-5α-P in the absence of LH and slightly enhancing the inhibitory effects of LH on formation of androstenedione and androsterone.
Keywords

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: