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OESTROGEN AND PROGESTERONE LEVELS IN THE BLOOD PLASMA OF COWS WITH NORMAL PARTURITION OR WITH A RETAINED PLACENTA

Physiologisches Institut, Tierärztliche Hochschule, Hannover, 3 Hannover, Germany

(Received 4th October 1974)

According to Aehnelt (1960), retention of the placenta may be due to mechanical, infectious, nutritional or hormonal causes. Hormonal factors were found by McDonald, McNutt & Nichols (1954) to play an important rôle in the pathogenesis of retention of the placenta in cattle. Although these authors demonstrated that a relationship existed between progesterone and the incidence of retention, they did not report oestrogen and progesterone levels in the blood of the affected cows. It appeared pertinent, therefore, to determine oestrogen and progesterone levels in cows undergoing a normal parturition and puerperium and to compare these data with those obtained for cows in which the placenta was retained.

Blood samples (20 ml) were taken from the jugular veins of fifteen German black pied cows through a fixed plastic catheter twice daily at 06.00 and 18.00 hours from 3 days