THE EFFECTS OF DOSAGE, AND OF ESTROGEN, ANDROGEN OR SALICYLATE ADMINISTRATION ON THE DEGREE OF BODY TEMPERATURE ELEVATION INDUCED BY PROGESTERONE

Abstract

THE literature concerning the thermogenic effect of progesterone has by now attained sizeable proportions (see the review by Palmer, 1949), yet with the exception of the study of Isreal and Schneller (1950), and those reported in abstract by Permian (1948), and Nieburgs and Greenblatt (1948), practically no attempt has been made to study either the quantitative aspects of this effect, or the essential physiologic processes involved. Isreal and Schneller (1950) and Perlman (1948) indicate that the rise in body temperature is related to the dose of progesterone. Nieburgs and Greenblatt (1948) state that in rats the effect is present in the absence of ovaries, adrenals and thyroids. In the main, concomitant administration of estrogens does not alter the thermogenic effect of progesterone (Buxton and Atkinson, 1948; Davis and Fugo, 1948; Isreal and Schneller, 1950) although estrogens alone are almost uniformly claimed to have a temperature depressing effect.