TY - JOUR
T1 - Pup Survival and Prolactin Levels in Nicotine-Treated Lactating Rats
AU - Terkel, Joseph
AU - Blake, Charles A.
AU - Hoover, Virginia
AU - Sawyer, Charles H.
N1 - Funding Information:
Supported by grants from NIH (NS 01162), the Ford Foundation and the American Medical Association Education and Research Foundation. 2
PY - 1973/9
Y1 - 1973/9
N2 - Administration of 0.5 and 1 mg nicotine tartrate twice daily to female rats through pregnancy and lactation affected neither duration of pregnancy nor litter size at birth. However, pups born to females given the higher dose of nicotine were lighter in weight at birth than pups in the two other groups, and most of them died of starvation before weaning because the mother's mammary glands contained so little milk. Blood was collected via a chronic intra-atrial cannula, and radioimmunoassay of prolactin was performed. Plasma prolactin levels of the group receiving the high dose of nicotine were much lower than in the low dose nicotine and saline groups. It is suggested that failure of prolactin release following chronic nicotine administration was responsible for low milk production and starvation of the pups. The mechanism by which nicotine affects prolactin levels may involve effects on brain catecholamines. We thank Mrs. Sylvia Barr for the drawing of the figure and Mrs. Frances Smith for secretarial aid.
AB - Administration of 0.5 and 1 mg nicotine tartrate twice daily to female rats through pregnancy and lactation affected neither duration of pregnancy nor litter size at birth. However, pups born to females given the higher dose of nicotine were lighter in weight at birth than pups in the two other groups, and most of them died of starvation before weaning because the mother's mammary glands contained so little milk. Blood was collected via a chronic intra-atrial cannula, and radioimmunoassay of prolactin was performed. Plasma prolactin levels of the group receiving the high dose of nicotine were much lower than in the low dose nicotine and saline groups. It is suggested that failure of prolactin release following chronic nicotine administration was responsible for low milk production and starvation of the pups. The mechanism by which nicotine affects prolactin levels may involve effects on brain catecholamines. We thank Mrs. Sylvia Barr for the drawing of the figure and Mrs. Frances Smith for secretarial aid.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/0015663082
U2 - 10.3181/00379727-143-37485
DO - 10.3181/00379727-143-37485
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AN - SCOPUS:0015663082
SN - 0037-9727
VL - 143
SP - 1131
EP - 1135
JO - Experimental Biology and Medicine
JF - Experimental Biology and Medicine
IS - 4
ER -