Role of Progesterone in the Onset of Maternal Behavior
Author Paul KenyonIn an elegant series of experiments Jay Rosenblatt and his colleagues (see Advances in the Study of Behavior, vol10, 1979, pp225-311), examined the possibility that the decline in circulating progesterone level towards the end of pregnancy triggered the onset of maternal behavior in the rat. Hysterectomy was used to investigate this possibility.
Groups of pregnant rats were hysterectomised on the:
- 10th day of pregnancy
- 13th day of pregnancy
- 16th day of pregnancy
- 19th day of pregnancy
- progesterone level
- maternal behavior
The purpose of this study is to investigate the correlation between hormone levels and maternal behavior.
This is a complex study. It involves eight independent groups of subjects and two endpoints - one behavioral, the other physiological. You can read more background here ...
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