Long-term estrogenization in mammals. III. Vasopressin and calcitonin in the regulation of water intake in estrogenized Marsh mice.

During the increasing polydipsia following estrogenization, vasopressin administration produced increasing antidiuretic effects demonstrating that renal receptor sites remained functional. The antidiuretic effect in the controls was less than in the estrogenized mice. An antidiuretic effect with calcitonin was demonstrated in the controls and in one experiment in the estrogenized mice but not in another with a high standard error for water intake. A decrease in food intake for the estrogenized mice the first day after vasopressin administration was of doubtful significance. A significant decrease in food intake in the control and estrogenized mice was demonstrated for calcitonin. The effects of the vehicles used for hormone administration on water and food intake necessitated a correction in some instances. As previously observed in estrogenized mice, bladder pathology preceded kidney pathology in additional experiments.