Androgen treatment in early infancy: effect upon adult adrenal cortical response to stress and adrenal and ovarian compensatory hypertrophy.

Abstract

Treatment of the 1-day-old rat with 1 mg of testosterone propionate (TP) produced in the female animal the expected anovulatory, persistent estrus syndrome. The adult adrenal cortical response to stress was normal in both male and female rats treated with TP in early infancy. The extent of compensatory adrenal, but not ovarian, hypertrophy appeared to be less in the TPtreated females, while control and TP-treated males exhibited no differences in either gonad or adrenal weights or in compensatory hypertrophy. (Endocrinology 77: 585, 1965) T ADMINISTRATION of testosterone propionate (TP) to the female rat during the first 10 days of life will induce a permanent anovulatory state with persistent vaginal estrus. The absence of cyclic pituitary gonadotropin secretion and failure of these animals to ovulate is thought to be due to fixation of the central nervous systemgonadotropin control mechanism in the male pattern (1). The preoptic region of the hypothalamus may be specifically involved (2). The hypothalamus also plays a critical role in initiating the secretion of ACTH following stress; this response is not the same in the Received March 26, 1965. normal male and female rat (3). The present report compares the adrenal cortical response to stress in adult male and female rats treated with sterilizing doses of testosterone propionate during the early postnatal period. In addition, the extent of compensatory adrenal and ovarian hypertrophy was compared in both treated and untreated groups. Materials and Methods Litters born on the same day were used for all experiments. On the 4th day of life half of each litter received testosterone propionate (1 mg in .01 ml). The rats were left undisturbed until weaning at day 21, at which time males and females were separated. From day 42 to day 62 vaginal smears were made daily to assess the 586 NOTES AND COMMENTS Volume 77 TABLE 1. Effect of testosterone propionate (TP) on postnatal day 1 upon the adrenocortical response to stress and adrenal and gonadal compensatory hypertrophy. Plasma corticosterone (CS) determined one to two minutes (A) and 15 minutes (B) after ether anesthesia