Dexamethasone can prevent stress-related litter deficits in the golden hamster.

This study was designed to examine the effects of social subordination during early pregnancy in the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus). Primiparous females were mated to proven breeders and stressed during early pregnancy. Females were housed singly throughout gestation except for Days 4, 5, and 6 when they were paired for 10-min intervals three times each day with another female matched for age, weight, and day of pregnancy. Within each of the pairs, one female was consistently dominant to the other. Controls were exposed to a novel area instead of a conspecific. At parturition, all pups were counted, sexed, and weighed. There were no significant differences between control and dominant females' litter sizes and sex ratios. Subordinate females produced significantly smaller litters than control or dominant dams and significantly lower sex ratios than control dams. Subordinates produced fewer males than control or dominant dams, but there were no differences in the number of females produced. The entire experiment was repeated exactly except that females received a small dosage of dexamethasone in their drinking water on Days 3-7 of pregnancy. In this second group, there were no significant reductions in mean litter size, sex ratio, or pup weights among litters born to subordinate dams. These results suggest that subordinate dams produce smaller litters via selective resorption of males in utero and that the typical adrenal response to stress mediates this response.