Ovariectomized rats were injected with 12 μg estrogen and 30–32 hr later treated with 0.1 μg ACTH, 1.0 μg progesterone or 10 IU chorionic gonadotropin. Lordosis responses occurred following the ACTH or progesterone treatment only. Assays of systemic plasma progesterone were carried out during the period that lordosis responses were displayed, and they revealed concentrations in the ACTH treated group 8 times those found in the gonadotropin-gonadotropin-treated group. A similar experiment with ovariectomized guinea pigs demonstrated that ACTH treatment stimulated lordosis and elevations in plasma progesterone. It is concluded that ACTH may cause release of adrenal progesterone in ovariectomized, estrogen-primed rats and guinea pigs in sufficient quantities to facilitate female sexual receptivity. (Endocrinology84: 171, 1969)
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Feder et al. (1969) studied this question.