SERUM PROLACTIN CONCENTRATION IN PSEUDOPREGNANT AND NORMALLY REPRODUCING GOATS

Previous experiments with bromocriptine suggested that prolactin plays a role in the aetiology of pseudopregnancy in goats, Serum prolactin concentration was measured in a herd of white Dutch dairy (Saanen) goa ts when hydrometra (a typical characteristic of pseudopregnancy) was d iagnosed by ultrasound, during the spontaneous development of pseudopr egnancy, and in normally reproducing goats during the breeding season, In the normally reproducing does the prolactin concentration decrease d at the beginning of the breeding season, in 12 of 14 pseudopregnant goats the prolactin concentration was within the range observed in the normally reproducing goats on the day that hydrometra was diagnosed. In two goats the prolactin concentration was low during the first few weeks of pseudopregnancy and in a third it fluctuated. There was no co rrelation found between the concentration of prolactin and the develop ment or the presence of a persistent corpus Luteum, These results sugg est that prolactin does not play a crucial role in the aetiology of ps eudopregnancy in the goat.