Quantitative evaluation of Serum Progesterone levels in the three trimesters of pregnancy in Albino rat.

Progesterone is a major hormone of pregnancy. Evidence suggests that without luteinizing signal, the corpus luteum may be dysfunctional and subsequent progesterone secretion may be abnormal which could lead to decrease in implantation and thus decrease in viability of pregnancy. The aim of the study was to determine if there was an increase in progesterone level at different trimesters of pregnancy in wistar rats. Twenty female albino rats were categorized into four different groups of five rats each. Group one (non-pregnant rats) served as the control. Groups two, three and four were pregnant rats in days 5, 12 and 19 corresponding to first, second and third trimesters of pregnancy respectively. Blood samples collected from the four groups were subjected to ELISA method for the assay of serum progesterone levels. There were statistically significant increases in the second (25.62±3.74pg) and third (36.36±1.17pg) trimesters when compared with non pregnant wistar rats (5.70±1.35pg). The increase observed in the first trimester was not statistically significant.