Abstract
The effective period of adrenal corticoid administration for the maintenance of pregnancy in proteideprived rats was investigated. A quarter mg of hydrocortisone was injected daily subcutaneously into the rats receiving a protein-free diet for various periods. Rats receiving steroid between days 4-7, 4-9, 4-11 and 4-13 maintained pregnancy in 20%, 62%, 38% and 27% of the animals, respectively. In these animals pregnancy was maintained with decrease in maternal body weight. Hydrocortisone did not show the adverse effect on maintenance of pregnancy in rats fed a normal diet. There were no differences in growth of conception products on day 14 between the groups with and without feeding protein, while total RNA and DNA in the uterus of protein fed group were higher than those in protein-deficient group.
Mechanisms involved in maintenance of hydrocortisone induced pregnancy are briefly discussed.
