Evidence for the formation of supplementary corpora lutea in the pregnant and pseudopregnant rat

In a series of experiments investigating a possible post-coitum contraceptive, it was observed that the numbers of corpora lutea (CL) of pregnant Sprague-Dawley (CD) rats were greater than in cyclic, unmated control females (p<0.001). The ontogeny of these supplementary CL (SCL) was established by the recording the mean number of CL in pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats on days 1 to 9 post-coitum (day 1 being the first day post-coitum) using the gross phological dissection of the ovary. Compared to cyclic controls, an initial significant increase in mean CL numbers was recorded on day 1 post-coitum (p<0.05) with a further significant increase between days 5 and 7 (p