Hormone induced lactation in the bovine III. Dynamics of injected and endogenous hormones.

Three lactations were induced in two cows in two trials by twice daily subcutaneous injections for seven days. Each injection contained .05 mg/kg body weight of estradiol-17beta and .125 mg/kg body weight of progesterone. Included with the hormones in trial 1 was a combination of 233 muCi of [6,7-hydrogen-3] estradiol-17beta and 12 muCi of [4-carbon-14] progesterone. During trial 2,2050 muCi of [2,4,6,7 hydrogen-3] estradiol-17beta were incorporated with the hormones for one cow and 2344 muCi of [1,2,6,7 hydrogen-3] progesterone for the other. Radioactivity from hydrogen-3 and carbon-14 was detected in urine and feces but not in mammary secretion during trial 1. Isotope recovery from [hydrogen-3] estradiol-17beta was too low to quantify. By day 17, 90% of the carbon-14 from progesterone was accumulated in feces and 8.0% in urine. For trial 2, recoveries of radioactivity by day 28 from urine, feces, and mammary secretions were, respectively, 32.4, 56.2, and less than .002% from [hydrogen-3] estradiol-17beta and 6.0, 87.7, and .25% from [hydrogen-3] progesterone. Estrogen and progesterone in plasma averaged 1.83 and 2.61 ng/ml during days 2 to 7. Estrogen decreased more rapidly than progesterone post-treatment, but both had decreased by days 16 to 19 when average prolactin of plasma increased. Quantitative measures of estradiol 17-beta and progesterone absorption, whether in plasma or excreta, were correlated.