Abstract
HYRAXES are unusual for small mammals because they have a long gestation period (7.5 months) for their size (2–3 kg) and intra-abdominal testes1,2. Hystricomorph rodents with long gestation periods relative to mature weight have a pregnancy-specific plasma protein with a high affinity for progesterone—progesterone-binding globulin (PBG). It occurs at high concentrations in the guinea pig and coypu, and evidently reduces the rate of progesterone clearance from blood3. We have found that, in the hyrax, the progesterone concentration in the corpus luteum is appreciable whereas that in plasma is low, and that erythrocytes metabolise progesterone in vitro. The results of this study are relevant to the phylogenetic affinity of the hyrax and elephant, and there is doubt about whether progesterone is the hormone of pregnancy in the elephant, since its concentration in the corpus luteum and peripheral plasma has been found to be very low4–7.
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HEAP, R., GOMBE, S. & SALE, J. Pregnancy in the hyrax and erythrocyte metabolism of progesterone. Nature 257, 809–811 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/257809a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/257809a0
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