Difference in the responsiveness of old female rats to estrogen to secrete sex attractants as a function of different reproductive states.
Two age groups of Long-Evans rats (young: 3.5-7 months of age and old: over 23 months of age) were ovariectomized and implanted subcutaneously with a 1:2 estradiol benzoate (E2)-cholestrol mixture-filled Silastic capsule. Olfactory preference of male partners to these female rats over ovariectomized young rats without E2 replacement was examined. Olfactory preference of adult male rats as indicated by investigation frequency and investigation time for old pseudopregnancy (PSP) rats and long-term ovariectomized rats was decreased but not that of prolonged-vaginal-cornification (PVC) rats when compared with young female rats. These results indicate that the responsiveness of old PVC rats to estrogen to secrete sex attractants is not decreased but that of PSP rats and long-term ovariectomized rats is decreased when compared with young female rats.
Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Republic of China.
M T
MT
Peng
S C
SC
Mu
D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D004958:Estradiol / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D010052:Ovariectomy; D010675:Pheromones / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D012724:Sex Attractants / Q000378:metabolism*; D012903:Smell
D010675:Pheromones; D012724:Sex Attractants; D004958:Estradiol