Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vvkck Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T12:02:20.585Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Reduction of the intake of food and water is responsible for reduction of litter growth when dams are treated with a progesterone antagonist

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

P. van der Schoot ,
T. A. Zeegers ,
F. A. J. Muskiet  and
E. J. Slappendel
P. van der Schoot
Affiliation:
Department of Endocrinology and Reproduction, Faculty of Medicine, Erasmus University, Rotterdam
T. A. Zeegers
Affiliation:
Central Laboratory for Clinical Chemistry, Academic Hospital, State University, Groningen, The Netherlands
F. A. J. Muskiet
Affiliation:
Central Laboratory for Clinical Chemistry, Academic Hospital, State University, Groningen, The Netherlands
E. J. Slappendel
Affiliation:
Department of Endocrinology and Reproduction, Faculty of Medicine, Erasmus University, Rotterdam
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Treatment of lactating rats with the anti-progestin Mifepristone or Onapristone adversely affects growth of their litters. The present studies aimed to elucidate the underlying mechanism. The treatment did not interfere with the behavioural interactions between mothers and pups, which are required for normal litter growth. Treatment with the antagonists had a stimulatory action on ovarian oestrogen production. However, ovarian hormones did not play a role in litter growth impairment, as this also occurred with lactating ovariectomized rats. Treatment with anti-progestins did not affect the concentrations of the macronutrients in milk (protein, lactose and lipid), nor did it change the fatty acid composition of lipid. Reduced litter growth was not related to a possible direct effect of exposure of the suckling young to the drugs via the milk. Direct injections into them unequivocally affected adrenal gland and testicular development, but did not affect their body-weight development. Milk secretion, as measured by the milk weight accumulating during 6 or 24 h following sudden removal of litters in advanced lactation, was not impaired by the treatments. However, the ingestion of food and water by dams treated with Mifepristone was significantly below that of control animals. It is concluded that litter growth impairment during treatment of lactating rats with anti-progestin results from the reduction of the intake of food and water by the mother.

Keywords

Anti-progestinMifepristoneOnapristoneLitter growthLactationRat
Type
Growth and Development
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 66 , Issue 1 , July 1991 , pp. 17 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 1991

References

REFERENCES

Blanc, B. (1981). Biochemical aspects of human milk: comparison with bovine milk. World Review on Nutrition and Dietetics 36, 1–89.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bruce, J. O. & Ramirez, V. D. (1970). Site of action of the inhibitory effect of estrogen upon lactation. Neuroendocrinology 6, 177–182.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clandinin, M. T., Chapell, J. E. & Heim, T. (1982). Do low weight infants require nutrition with chain elongation-desaturation products of essential fatty acids? Progress in Lipid Research 20, 901–904.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jansen, G., Muskiet, F. A. J., Schierbeek, H., Berger, R. & van der Slik, W. (1986). Capillary gas chromatographic profiling of urinary, plasma and erythrocyte sugars and polyols as their trimethylsilyl derivatives, preceded by a simple and rapid prepurification method. Clinica Chimica Acta 157, 277–294.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kirk, R. E. (1968). Experimental Design: Procedures for the Behavioral Sciences. Belmont: Brooks/Cole.Google Scholar
Knopp, R. H., Walden, C. E. & Wahl, P. W. (1981). Oral contraceptive and postmenopausal estrogen effects on lipoprotein triglyceride and cholesterol in an adult female population: relationships to estrogen and progestin potency. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 53, 1123–1132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koletzko, B., Schmidt, E., Bremer, H. J., Haug, M. & Harzer, G. (1989). Effects of dietary long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids on the essential fatty acid status of premature infants. European Journal of Pediatrics 148, 669–675.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lincoln, D. W., Hill, A. & Wakerley, J. B. (1973). The milk-ejection reflex in the rat: an intermittent function not abolished by surgical levels of anaesthesia. Journal of Endocrinology 57, 459–476.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowry, O. H., Rosebrough, N. J., Fatt, A. L. & Randall, R. I. (1951). Protein measurement with the Folin phenol reagent. Journal of Biological Chemistry 193, 265–267.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Neef, G., Beier, S., Elger, W., Henderson, D. & Wiechert, R. (1984). New steroids with antiprogestational and antiglucocorticoid activities. Steroids 44, 349–372.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Philibert, D. (1984). RU 38486: an original multifaceted antihormone in vivo. In Adrenal Steroid Antagonism, pp. 77–101 [Agarwal, M. K., editor]. Berlin: deGruyter & Co.Google Scholar
Tapper, C. M., Greig, F. & Brown-Grant, K. (1974). Effect of steroid hormones on gonadotrophin secretion in female rats after ovariectomy during the oestrous cycle. Journal of Endocrinology 62, 511–525.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tucker, H. A. (1988). Lactation and its hormonal control. In The Physiology of Reproduction, pp. 2235–2263 [Knobil, E. and Neill, J., editors]. New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
van der Schoot, P. & de Greef, W. J. (1983). Effect of adrenalectomy on the regulation of the secretion of gonadotrophins and prolactin in the lactating rat. Journal of Endocrinology 98, 227–232.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van der Schoot, P., Uilenbroek, J. Th. J. & Slappendel, E. J. (1989). Failure of two progesterone-antagonists to affect luteal activity in lactating rats. Journal of Reproduction and Fertility 87, 593–601.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van der Schoot, P., Uilenbroek, J. Th. J. & Slappendel, E. J. (1990). Effect of the progesterone-antagonist mifepristone on the hypothalamo-hypophysial-ovarian axis in rats. Journal of Endocrinology 124, 425–432.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van der Schoot, P., Uilenbroek, J. Th. J., Woutersen, P. & Bakker, G. (1987). The progesterone antagonist Mifepristone, a tool for the study of the role of progesterone in regulating ovarian activity in rats. In Neuroendocrinology of Reproduction, pp. 161–168 [Rolland, R., van Hall, E. V., Hillier, S. G., McNatty, K. P. and Schoemaker, J., editors]. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
van der Steege, G., Muskiet, F. A. J. & Martini, I. A. (1987). Simultaneous quantification of total medium- and long-chain fatty acids in human milk by capillary gas chromatography with split injection. Journal of Chromatography 415, 1–11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zeilmaker, G. H. (1969). Milk yield during prolonged lactation in mice: effects of ovariectomy. Journal of Reproduction and Fertility 19, 361–365.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed