Effects of progesterone on parturition in the tammar, Macropus eugenii

Abstract

Tammar wallabies were treated with progesterone injections or implants during late pregnancy to determine whether progesterone withdrawal was essential for parturition. Neither physiological (implanted group) nor pharmacological (injected group) levels of circulating progesterone prevented parturition occurring at about the expected time in about two-thirds of animals that were pregnant. The neonates of both groups were normal in size and weight, but about a third of treated pregnant animals retained their fetuses or aborted. The retained fetuses were retarded in development. Therefore, progesterone treatment had no influence on the duration of gestation, or parturition, in the tammar wallaby, but high progesterone concentrations may interfere with the normal course of development and birth in a proportion of treated animals.