Abstract
Plasma prolactin as determined by radioimmunoassay was barely detectable in 21-day-old fetuses and on the day of birth (day 0). It had declined by days 3–6 and then rose gradually to attain adult levels at day 35. To further evaluate (he development of the prolactin control system, the ability of estrogen to elicit prolactin release was studied at various ages by injecting different doses of estradiol benzoate (Eb) SC once daily lor 2 days and measuring plasma prolactin 24 hr after the last injection. At 11 days of age, there was no significant increase in prolactin with any of the doses of Eb used (0.05–0.4 µg/100 g body wt). In 27-day-old rats, the 0.4 µg dose induced a dramatic rise in plasma prolactin and the 0.05, 0.10 and 0.2 µg dose induced much smaller but significant increases in prolactin. By 37 days, the 0.2 µg dose became highly effective and the 0.4 µg dose induced an even larger increase. The response of adult females to this dose was significantly less than that observed in 37-day-old anima...
Published Version
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