N. Saba

Oestrogenic activity of soya-bean products

Abstract Normal rat cake containing soya meal was found to be oestrogenic. Sixteen samples of soya meal were examined in the mouse uterine weight bioassay and all were found to have oestrogenic activity. Ethyl-acetate extracts of the meals also had oestrogenic activity. Genistein and daidzein were present in the extracts.

Plasma concentrations of glucose and non-esterified fatty acids (N.E.F.A.) in the pregnant and lactating ewe and the effect of dietary restriction.

1. The effect of undernutrition on the levels of plasma glucose, N.E.F.A. and ketone bodies was observed in fourteen Suffolk-cross ewes late in pregnancy by comparing with data obtained on seven control ewes of comparable pregnancy status. An attempt is made to relate these changes with plasma triglyceride levels, liver fat deposition and plasma pigmentation. 2. Evidence is presented which shows that while plasma glucose values are normally distributed, plasma N.E.F.A. levels show a positively skew distribution. This abnormality is corrected by transforming plasma N.E.F.A. values to their logarithms.

Plasma cortisol levels in pregnant ewes

Pregnancy toxaemia in ewes is a metabolic disorder which may occur during the last month of pregnancy. Typical symptoms are anorexia, hypoglycaemia, hyperketonaemia, blindness, ataxia and recumbency. The condition usually proves fatal. Reid & Hogan (1959) have put forward the suggestion that pregnancy toxaemia is an adrenal steroid diabetes. However, pregnancy toxaemia in ewes is generally associated with starvation or severe undernutrition, and McClymont & Setchell (1955) have suggested that under these conditions the symptoms of pregnancy toxaemia are due to cerebral depression caused by hypoglycaemia. As part of investigations on pregnancy toxaemia, adrenal steroid metabolism in ewes was studied. This paper presents data on plasma cortisol levels during the last month of pregnancy in ewes, and the possible effects of undernutrition and cold on these levels.