A controlled-delivery module based on microporous Accurel polypropylene tubing, implanted subcutaneously in the rat, was used to release oxytocin for at least 40 days both in vitro and in vivo. Using a dosage rate of approximately 650 ng oxytocin per day and implanting the device in rats on day 17 of pregnancy, the known physiological action of oxytocin in advancing labour was confirmed. The increased concentrations of oxytocin in the mothers gave rise to adverse effects; the course of labour was protracted during expulsions of the first pups and the birth weight was reduced. Postnatally, body development of the pups was also affected, although there was partial recovery when the pups started to feed independently. Both pre- and postnatal exposure of pups to an oxytocin-treated mother reduced their body water turnover measured at 1 month of age.
The effects on the course of parturition and during lactation might be explained by a blockade of uterine and mammary gland oxytocin receptors respectively, thereby inhibiting a proper response to pulsatile endogenous oxytocin secretion. The changes in water metabolism, which are opposite to those described for the heterologous hormone vasopressin, are less easy to explain since maternal oxytocin is not supposed to pass the placenta. The results may indicate that clinical use of oxytocin for induction of labour and lactation may have hitherto unrecognized side-effects.
J. Endocr. (1984) 101, 121–129
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