2003 Volume 8 Issue 2 Pages 109-113
A 11 years old female Asian elephant (Elaphas moximus) made a stillbirth in January 11,2002. This female revealed the abdominal and the nipples swelling during 2000 and 2001. Serum progesterone (P) , estradiol (E2) and prolactin (PRL) were measured once a month from May 2000 to January 2002 by radioimmunoassay (RIA) . Additionally from September 4, 1999 to January 12, 2002, P and E2 were measured once a week by enzymeimmunoassay (EIA) . The value of P by EIA elevated to the high level on the early April 2000, and thereafter kept the high level until the end of 2001. The level of P started to decrease gradually in December 2001, and on 6 days before stillbirth, the P level suddenly fell down. On the next day of stillbirth, the P value decreased to the level as before April 2000. E2 by EIA did not revealed the regular cyclic pattern before the P level elevated for pregnancy. The P values by both of EIA and RIA positively correlated (Pearson's correlative coefficient:0.763, p<0.01) . E2 and PRL by RIA were almost below detectable level (E2:8.0pg/ml, PRL:0.5ng/ml) . The period of pregnancy estimated from the change of P level by EIA was 640 days.
