Crowding during pregnancy delays puberty and alters estrous cycles of female offspring in mice.
Chronic crowding of mice during late pregnancy resulted in offspring of lowered birthweights and, in the females, delayed puberty and altered estrous cycles. Plasma corticosterone in the crowded dams was elevated acutely, lending some support to the hypothesis of adrenocortical mediation of prenatal stress effects.
D000818:Animals; D001724:Birth Weight; D003345:Corticosterone / Q000097:blood; D003441:Crowding / Q000502:physiology*; D004971:Estrus / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D012741:Sexual Maturation
D003345:Corticosterone