Exp Clin Endocrinol Diabetes 1988; 91(3): 319-326
DOI: 10.1055/s-0029-1210764
Original

© J. A. Barth Verlag in Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Serum Lipoprotein Changes in Female Rats Treated with Progesterone or Synthetic Gestagens Alone or in Combination with Estradiol. I. Total and Fractionated Cholesterol and Lipoprotein Pattern

Rosemarie Tkocz, H. G. Hillesheim, Gerlinde Schmidt, H. Hoffmann
  • Central Institute of Microbiology and Experimental Therapy (Director: Prof. Dr. F. BERGTER), Academy of Sciences of the GDR, Jena/GDR
Further Information

Publication History

1987

Publication Date:
16 July 2009 (online)

Summary

In adult female rats, the effects of progesterone (P), norethisterone acetate (NEA), levonorgestrel (LNG), dienogest (DEG) and chlormadinone acetate (CMA) given alone at doses of 2.5 or 10 mg/kg p. o. or in combination with s.c. implanted estradiol (E2) on total cholesterol (TC), high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and very-low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C) were investigated. Additionally, the lipoprotein pattern was determined using agarose gel electrophoresis. Synthetic gestagens derived from nortestosterone (NEA, LNG, DEG) lowered TC by reduction of HDL-C and LDL-C, whereas E2 induced an increase of these lipids. The decrease of HDL-C and LDL-C caused by the gestagens was also found in E2 pretreated rats. In contrast, the pregnane related CMA and P given alone did not diminish TC, HDL-C or LDL-C. But they partly reversed the enhancing effect of E2 on the HDL-C fraction following their simultaneous administration. The results suggest that the cholesterol lowering effects of gestagens are mediated rather via androgen than via progesterone receptors.