PRE-TRAUMA OESTROGEN REQUIREMENTS FOR INDUCTION OF DECIDUALIZATION IN SPAYED, PROGESTERONE-TREATED RATS

Abstract

ABSTRACT The formation of deciduomata was investigated in ovariectomized rats treated with various combinations of oestrogen and progesterone before traumatization. The hormonal treatment was kept constant for all groups of animals during the period between traumatization and autopsy (4 mg of progesterone and 0.2 μg of oestradiol benzoate daily). Uterine weight and carbonic anhydrase activity were measured 96 hours after trauma and compared with those of intact controls receiving traumatization on day 4 of pseudopregnancy. When a single dose of oestrogen was given on the day before traumatization, induction of decidualization was successful under a wide variety of experimental conditions (presence or absence of oestrogen »priming« before the beginning of the progesterone treatment; progesterone treatment of varying duration). On the contrary, treatment with divided doses of oestrogen, given for 3 days before trauma, allowed extensive decidualization only in rats »primed« with oestrogen, and traumatized on the fourth day of a progesterone treatment started 24 hours after vaginal keratinization. It appears therefore that only the »oestrogen surge« hypothesis of Shelesnyak and his collaborators can account for those conditions in which implantation occurs at variable intervals of time after the last oestrus (lactation, hypophyseal autotransplantation, administration of a tranquilizer and early ovariectomy followed by hormonal treatment). On the other hand, both the hypothesis of Shelesnyak and that proposed by Yochim & DeFeo (1963) (i. e. continuous secretion of small amounts of oestrogen during the first three days of pregnancy and pseudopregnancy) could account for the rapid waxing and waning of endometrial sensitivity to deciduoma-inducing stimuli observed in normal pregnancy and pseudo-pregnancy.