Ovarian sensitivity to exogenous gonadotrophins in phenobarbital treated unilaterally ovariectomized albino rats

Adult cycling female rats were hemispayed and administered with 7.5 mg phenobarbital/100 gm body weight for 15 days. 5IU FSH or FSH+LH per 100 gm body weight was administered from day 13 to 15 to the hemispayed phenobarbital treated rats. Phenobarbital inhibits the ovarian compensatory hypertrophy significantly and increases the cholesterol and lipid levels in the ovary. Administration of FSH alone or in combination with LH restores the ovarian compensatory hypertrophy and decreases cholesterol and lipid levels significantly but LH alone is not much effective. These results suggest that the inhibition of ovarian growth may be due to the lack of availability of pituitary gonadotrophins in phenobarbital treated rats and these actions can be rectified by the administration of exogenous gonadotrophins which indicate that the ovary has not lost its sensitivity due to phenobarbital treatment.