Influence of blood removal under ether anaesthesia on the release of prolactin during the oestrous cycle in the rat. Involvement of the ovaries.

The aim of this work was to study the stress-like effects of blood removal under ether anaesthesia at different stages of the di-oestrus period in 4-day cyclic female rats. Blood removal by heart puncture or laparotomy and bleeding from the abdominal vena cava both under ether anaesthesia were shown to precipitously evoked prolactin release on di-oestrus I morning and on di-oestrus II afternoon. Adrenalectomy did not prevent this effect from occurring on di-oestrus I morning following either procedure of blood removal. Ovariectomy completely suppressed the stress-like effects of ether anaesthesia whereas progesterone appeared capable of restoring prolactin release under these circumstances. No prolactin positive response to ether anaesthesia was observed on di-oestrus II morning, in unoperated control females.