ANEMIA IN THE RABBIT DURING PREGNANCY AND FOLLOWING TREATMENT WITH WATER SOLUBLE OVARIAN EXTRACTS12

Abstract

A NEMIA of pregnancy has been described in a number of widely diveri l gent species of mammals. In general it has been concluded that this phenomenon is due to a hemodilution (Bond, 1948; Houssay, 1951), although the etiologic factors responsible for the anemia remain unknown. Some investigators still feel that the anemia may be due to nutritional deficiencies. Forman (1950) has reported excellent results in pregnant women with a molybdenum iron complex, which caused an increase in the hemoglobin and prevented the anemia of pregnancy. However the work of Mitchell and Miller (1931), Beard and Myers (1931) and Van Donk, Feldraan and Steenback (1934) on the rat, would seem to indicate that this anemia is not due to a lack of nutritional factors. The ability of different hormones or the lack of these hormones to cause an anemia has been reported rather extensively. It has been shown that hypophysectomy