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SPECIFICITY OF PROGESTERONE INHIBITION OF LACTOGENESIS
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1969
Year
Hormonal ContraceptiveOvarian ProgesteroneFertilityReproductive HealthGynecologyFemale Reproductive FunctionReproductive BiologyEmbryologyOvarian AgingReproductive EndocrinologyHuman LactationLactationFemale InfertilityReproductive MedicinePublic HealthMyometrial ContractilitySteroid MetabolismMammary GlandEndocrinologyPharmacologyOvarian HormoneDevelopmental BiologyUterine ReceptivityPhysiologyMedicineProgesterone WithdrawalEndocrine ResearchReproductive Hormone
The withdrawal of ovarian progesterone either naturally at the end of pregnancy, or after ovariectomy, hysterectomy, or both, leads to a rapid accumulation of lactose in the mammary gland of the rat in late pregnancy (Shinde, Ôta & Yokoyama, 1965; Kuhn, 1969). In each instance administered progesterone prevents this accumulation (Kuhn, 1969; R. P. Deis & A. Alonso, quoted by Deis, 1968). The natural disappearance of progesterone before parturition is paralleled by a marked rise in the concentration of 20α-hydroxypregn-4-en-3-one in the plasma (Fajer & Barraclough, 1967; Hashimoto, Hendricks, Anderson & Melampy, 1968; Wiest, Kidwell & Balogh, 1968; Kuhn, 1969), due to the appearance of 20α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase in ovarian corpora lutea (Wiest et al. 1968; N. J. Kuhn & M. S. Briley, to be published). To support the concept of progesterone withdrawal as a physiological trigger for lactogenesis (Kuhn, 1969) it is necessary to show that closely related steroids, especially