Prenatal and postnatal development of rats following the maternal treatment with testosterone during the late period of embryogenesis.

Sprague-Dawley derived female albino rats were administered subcutaneously 0.5, 1.5, or 3.0 mg/kg of testosterone acetate in sesame oil at single daily doses, from day 13 until day 16 of pregnancy (day 0 = spermatozoa). The pregnant females were either killed shortly before term or allowed to litter and raise their offspring. Increased rates of prenatal death were observed in the three experimental groups of both these experiments. Reduced body weight of foetuses and, respectively, young rats after weaning was recorded for the intermediate and high dose groups. Embryo-lethality and delay of either foetal or postnatal development occurred at some dose-relationship and in association with slight to moderate loss of maternal body weight during the period of treatment. No teratogenic potency of testosterone was found and no changes of the female sexual organs were observed in the foetuses or young rats.