Progesterone and oestrogen in pregnancy and parturition: comparative aspects and hierarchical control

The different ways in which the progesterone requirements of pregnancy are met in various species are reviewed here. Progesterone production expressed in terms of metabolic body weight lies within about one order of magnitude in several species (but not in the rat), whether the hormone is predominantly ovarian or placental in origin. Parturition is usually preceded by a decrease in the plasma concentration of progesterone and the evidence which suggests that a decrease in secretion involves enzyme induction is summarized. In the sheep a sequence of well-marked hormonal changes can be discerned--an increase in fetal cortisol secretion followed by a fall in placental progesterone and a rise in oestrogen and prostaglandin F2alpha secretion. This sequence has been interpreted in terms of hierarchical control theory which envisages a series of levels placed in a descending order of importance and in which there is a downward transmission of a signal from a higher level that modifies activity at a lower level. A dominant level in the hierarchy in the sheep and pig seems to be the fetal hypothalamus and pituitary, but in the rabbit the maternal hypothalamus, pituitary and ovary play a more dominant role.