INTERRUPTION OF EARLY PREGNANCY IN THE RABBIT BY A SINGLE INJECTION OF OESTRADIOL CYCLOPENTYLPROPIONATE

in Journal of Endocrinology
Author:
G. S. GREENWALD
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SUMMARY

Female rabbits were injected i.m. with various doses of oestradiol cyclopentylpropionate (OECP) immediately after coitus. The percentage of embryonic deaths 8 days post coitum after a single injection of 25, 50, 100 or 250 μg. of OECP was, respectively, 86, 97, 100 and 100%. However, the cornua of rabbits receiving as much as 100 μg. of OECP had normal 3 to 4 + progestational proliferation 8 days after mating.

The high embryonic mortality resulted from disturbances in the rate of egg transport through the oviduct. Thus, with 25 μg. OECP most of the ova were expelled from the reproductive tract 48 hours post coitum, whereas with 250 μg ova were retained at the ampullary-isthmic junction of the tube for at least 5 days. Under these circumstances, small viable blastocysts developed in 4 days, but 24 hr. later all eggs were degenerating.

These experiments suggest that embryonic death indirectly results from administration of OECP and that the hormone only briefly disrupts postovulatory development of the reproductive tract.

 

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