Does the male reproductive performance depend on the early lactation milk in rats?

• Published in: Physiology & behavior Vol. 59; no. 1; pp. 147 - 152
• Main Authors: Carlos, Carla Patrícia, Lemonica, Ione Pellegatti, de Grava Kempinas, Wilma, Pereira, Oduvaldo Camara Marques
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Elsevier Inc 1996; New York, NY Elsevier
• Subjects: Animals; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Body Weight - physiology; Female; Fertility; Fertility - physiology; Fructose - metabolism; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genitalia, Male - growth & development; GnRH; Hormones and behavior; Hypothalamic differentiation; Lactation - physiology; Male; Masculinization; Milk; Milk - physiology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Rat; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Reproduction; Reproduction - physiology; Sexual Behavior, Animal - physiology; Sexual differentiation; Spermatozoa - physiology; Spermatozoa - ultrastructure; Testis - anatomy & histology; Testis - growth & development; Masculinization; Reproduction; Rat; Fertility; GnRH; Sexual differentiation; Milk; Hypothalamic differentiation; Semen pathway; Seminal vesicle; Body weight; Rodentia; Gonadotropin RH; Male; Male genital duct; Male genital system; Young animal; Vas deferens; Hypothalamic hormone; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Animal; Virilism; Development; Hormone releasing factor; Urogenital system; Prostate
• ISSN: 0031-9384; 1873-507X
• DOI: 10.1016/0031-9384(95)02053-5

This study investigated the role of the early lactation milk (ELM) on the male reproductive performance and the participation of GnRH on this effect in Wistar rats. Newborn males were divided into three experimental groups: 1) ELM-deprived pups, 2) ELM-deprived pups treated with exogenous GnRH 1, 7, 25, and 31 h after birth, and 3) non-ELM-deprived and without exogenous GnRH. In relation to the other two groups, the ELM-deprived male rats exhibited as adults: reduced fertility, decreased weight of both vas deferens and seminal vesicle, and reduced levels of fructose in the seminal vesicle and prostate gland. We suggest that the intake of ELM during the neonatal period is important to the later sexual development of rats, and that GnRH is somehow involved in such an effect.