Neonatal Androgen or Estrogen Treatment and the Adrenal Cortica Response to Stress in Adult Rats1

Abstract

Female rats treated with androgen 120 hr after birth or estrogen 96 hr after birth exhibited normal stress-induced elevations in plasma corticosterone concentrations. Both hormones produced the expected anovulatory condition, and significantly increased adrenal and body weights. Male rats treated with androgen neonatally showed a significant increase in body weight and a slight decrease in testicularweight. No effect was observed in the adrenal cortical response to stress. Neonatal estrogen treatment did significantly elevate the response to stress in adult males. Testicular and body weights were markedly reduced but adrenal weights were increased as a function of neonatal estrogen treatment and were comparable to those of normal females. (Endocrinology80:1177,1967)