STRANGE-MALE-INDUCED PREGNANCY DISRUPTION IN MICE - POTENTIATION BY ADMINISTRATION OF 17-BETA-ESTRADIOL TO CASTRATED MALES

Previous evidence suggests that androgen activity is necessary for str ange males to disrupt early pregnancy in mice. Inseminated females wer e housed below castrated males, separated by a wire-mesh grid. Castrat ed males did not disrupt pregnancy, whereas those given daily injectio ns of 27 or 81 mu g of 17 beta-estradiol did so. In conjunction with p revious evidence, these data suggest a similarity between the hormones involved in the capacity of males to disrupt pregnancy and the hormon es directly implicated in the females' vulnerability to pregnancy disr uption.