[Effects of melatonin administration to rats upon different parameters of the offspring].

Abstract

Administration of melatonin at the 250 micrograms/ml dose by intraperitoneal injection to adult female rats, during a month before mating and throughout the whole pregnancy, inhibited both the fetuses' growth and the ovarian weight of the daughters and did not modify the testes weight of the sons. Adrenal gland weight of the sons of blinded female rats is lower for this group than for the sons of both control and melatonin treated rats. Daughters of blinded rats in this group showed vaginal opening before that in the control: a statistically significant difference.