Biology of Reproduction, Vol 14, 610-612, Copyright © 1976 by Society for the Study of Reproduction

Serum Progesterone in the Pregnant Baboon (Papio papio)

¹ Pregnancy Research Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014

Progesterone in serum samples obtained from baboons during the menstrual cycle and at random times from 60 days gestation to 24 h postpartum (term = 184 days) was measured by radioimmunoassay. Mean (± SE) concentrations increased significantly (P<0.01) from 0.5 ± 0.2 ng/ml (N = 7) to 4.9 ± 0.8 ng/ml (N = 8) during the follicular and luteal phases of the menstrual cycle, respectively. Mean (± SE) concentrations between 60 days of gestation and term were 12.0 ± 0.9 ng/ml (N = 84), a value greater (P<0.02) than that for the luteal phase. During the period of gestation studied there was no significant change in progesterone levels. Progesterone decreased (1.2 ± 0.5 ng/ml, mean ± SE, N = 5) by 24 h postpartum, indicating its dependence on the products of conception. Thus, in mid and late gestation serum progesterone concentrations of baboons differ from those in chimpanzees and humans, where they are elevated manyfold over those in the luteal phase, and in macaques where levels approximate luteal phase values.

Note:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors express their gratitude to Dr. D. Lynn Loriaux for supplying the progesterone antisera and Mr. Nat White for assistance with the statistical analyses.

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