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Progesterone or progestin concentrations were measured in the peripheral plasma of the tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii) during pregnancy and the oestrous cycle, using a competitive protein-binding method. In common with most other members of the marsupial family Macropodidae, the tammar has a gestation period slightly shorter than one oestrous cycle, and the occurrence of pregnancy does not affect the time of onset of the following oestrus. This study was an attempt to obtain direct evidence for the common assumption that most macropodid marsupials secrete the same amounts of ovarian hormones during pregnancy as they do during the oestrous cycle. The effect on progesterone levels of ovariectomy and removal of the corpus luteum was also studied to discover whether an extra-ovarian source of progesterone exists during pregnancy. Circulating levels of both total plasma progestins and progesterone are very low compared with other mammalian species—less than 1 ng/ml at all stages of the reproductive cycle. An increase in plasma progesterone concentration, apparently of ovarian origin, occurs before birth and/or oestrus, and this may possibly be associated with parturition. The plasma progestin concentration during pregnancy, and that of progesterone during the last 10 days of pregnancy, were significantly greater than during the oestrous cycle.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. Harder and M. Fleming Estradiol and progesterone profiles indicate a lack of endocrine recognition of pregnancy in the opossum Science, June 19, 1981; 212(4501): 1400 - 1402. [Abstract] [PDF]