Prolactin status of hereditary dwarf mice.

Snell (dw/dw) and Ames (df/df) dwarf mice of both sexes were evaluated for immunoassayable PRL in plasma and for the presence of PRL-containing cells in the hypophysis. Regardless of the method of blood collection (decapitation or cardiac or orbital puncture), minimal concentrations of PRL were detected in the plasma of hereditary dwarf mice. PRL secretion was not augmented in Snell or Ames female dwarfs after treatment with perphenazine or estradiol benzoate, stimuli which greatly increased PRL release in normal female littermates. Comparison of PRL levels in dwarf animals (dw/dw or df/df) using two different homologous RIAs substantiated the observation that male and female dwarfs are PRL deficient. Mammotropes, readily detectable in the pituitary glands of all normal siblings of Snell and Ames mice, were absent from the dwarf mouse hypophysis, which was markedly reduced in size. The lack of PRL-containing cells in the dwarf mouse pituitary may explain why peripheral PRL levels in this animal are below those measured in hypophysectomized mice.