Abstract
OVARIECTOMY may be performed in the ewe as early as the 50th day of pregnancy without resulting in abortion1. It has been assumed that by this stage the steroid hormones produced from extra-ovarian sources are sufficient to maintain pregnancy. This supposition is supported by the fact that progesterone has been found in the placentæ of ewes 100 days pregnant2, and also in the adrenal venous blood of both gonadectomized rams and ewes3. However, little is known of the steroid hormonal requirements of the ewe during pregnancy. Foote et al. 4 treated ewes, ovariectomized 3 days after mating, with either progesterone alone or progesterone together with œstrone, and found at slaughter 25 days after mating, that almost 50 per cent of the ewes contained normal embryos.
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References
Denamur, R., and Martinet, J., C.R. Soc. Biol., 149, 2105 (1955).
Short, R. V., and Moore, N. W., J. Endocrin. (in the press).
Balfour, W. E., Comline, R. S., and Short, R. V., Nature, 180, 1480 (1957).
Foote, W. D., Gooch, L. D., Pope, A. L., and Casida, L. E., J. Anim. Sci., 16, 986 (1957).
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MOORE, N., ROWSON, L. Maintenance of Pregnancy in Ovariectomized Ewes by Means of Progesterone. Nature 184, 1410 (1959). https://doi.org/10.1038/1841410a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1841410a0
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