Stress-induced prolactin release in female, male and androgenized rats: influence of progesterone treatment

Ether stress applied at 10.00 h induced a 100 % increase in serum prolactin in intact and ovariectomized androgenized rats. Ovariectomy significantly dimin-ished the basal serum prolactin values observed in intact androgenized rats. Two doses of progesterone(5 mg) given to intact and ovariectomized andro-genized rats 14 and 2 h before exposure to ether stress increased prolactin values in the control groups but completely prevented the effect of stress. Exposure to ether stress induced a 100 % increase in serum prolactin values in androgenized rats with increased serum pro-gesterone levels 4 days after the induction of ovulation and the luteal phase with human chorionic gonado-tropin (hCG). A group of androgenized rats with induced maternal behaviour and which had bee