Estrogen responsiveness of progestin receptor induction in the pituitary, preoptic-hypothalamic brain and uterus of neonatally estrogenized female rats.

Female rats were defeminized by neonatal treatment with estradiol-17beta benzoate, moxestrol (RU 2858), monohydroxytamoxifen ICI 79,280) or the dibenzoate esters of the catecholestrogens, 2-hydroxyestradiol-17beta and 4-hydroxyestradiol-17beta. When ovariectomized as adults and primed with estradiol-17beta benzoate all these rats demonstrated a deficient luteinizing hormone response to progesterone administration. However, estrogen responsiveness of progestin receptor induction was unimpaired in both the pituitary gland, the preoptic-hypothalamic brain and the uterus.