REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE IN THE ALLOXAN DIABETIC FEMALE RAT

Abstract

ABSTRACT Sexual maturity was delayed in prepuberal rats rendered diabetic by alloxan; this could not be attributed to inanition alone. Mature rats rendered diabetic ceased to have cyclic oestrous periods, and the ovaries, uterus, and vagina involuted. Insulin restored the oestrous cycles and fertility to normal in the sexually mature alloxan diabetic rats. When the insulin was withdrawn after breeding some diabetic rats successfully delivered viable litters. In the majority, however, foetal death and resorption occurred about the 10th day of gestation. The lactational performances in alloxan-diabetic rats was variable and subnormal. This variability in reproductive performance probably accounts for the lack of agreement in the literature. No obvious correlation existed between the degree of hyperglycaemia in rats which maintained pregnancy and in those which failed to deliver viable young.