Autonomic innervation and plasma estradiol-17β and progesterone levels in rats with subcutaneous ovarian autografts

Summary

Ovaries were removed from female rats and immediately autografted into a subcutaneous pouch in the flank in order to quantitate the relationship of graft re-innervation, steroid secretion and vaginal smear pattern. Animals were killed at three time periods: three days after grafting, on the first day a cornified vaginal smear appeared and at the first metestrus. In addition, control animals were killed at metestrus. Plasma samples were obtained from all rats and analyzed for estradiol-17β and progesterone concentration by radioimmunoassay.

At the first day of vaginal cornification after grafting, plasma estradiol-17β (45.8±4.0 pg/ml) was elevated in comparison to controls at metestrus (24.0±2.6 pg/ml), but plasma progesterone (21.5±4.0 ng/ml) was not different (30.6±1.7 ng/ml). Subsequently, at the first metestrus following grafting, plasma estradiol-17β (23.0±3.5 pg/ml) was comparable to control values. In contrast, progesterone was decreased (17.5±1.9 ng/ml). A definite correlation was detected between the vaginal smear and plasma levels of steroid hormones in the castrated female rat with subcutaneous ovarian autografts.

Histochemical techniques were used to study the adrenergic and cholinergic innervations of grafts three days after grafting, at the first day of vaginal cornification, and at the first metestrus. No correlation was shown between density of adrenergic or cholinergic innervation and plasma levels of estradiol-17β and progesterone or onset of a cycling vaginal smear.