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Serum Growth Hormone, LH and Prolactin in the Pregnant Cow¹

Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48823

Abstract

LH, prolactin and growth hormone (GH) were assayed in jugular, uterine arterial and uterine venous blood obtained from 37 Holstein heifers at 90, 180 or 260 days of pregnancy. None of the three hormones changed significantly during pregnancy. At each trimester of gestation, cows carrying male fetuses had higher jugular serum prolactin (P<.05). A similar tendency was observed for growth hormone, but not for LH. Concentrations of LH in the jugular, uterine artery, and uterine vein were equivalent, but the jugular contained 259% more GH (P<.01) and 61% more prolactin than the average of the uterine vessels. While uterine arterial blood contained slightly more of each hormone than uterine venous blood, the differences did not approach significance.

¹ Published with the approval of the Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station as Journal Article No. 5621. This research was supported in part by NIH Grant No. FR-5623-02. Drs. D. A. Morrow and C. C. Miller provided valuable assistance with surgeries.

² NIH Post-doctoral Fellow, Department of Large Animal Surgery and Medicine.

³ Department of Dairy Science.