Fig. 1

Effects of exogenous progesterone on blastocyst morphology, and plasma and uterine flushing composition. a Ewes necropsied on day 9 of pregnancy and treated with P4 had higher concentrations of P4 in plasma than CO-treated ewes (P < 0.05) but on day 12 concentrations of P4 in plasma were not different. There was a day × treatment interaction (P < 0.05). b All conceptuses from day 12 P4-treated ewes were filamentous while blastocysts from day 12 CO-treated ewes were spherical. The scale bar represents 100 μm for spherical blastocysts and 1000 μm for filamentous conceptuses. c Blastocysts from day 12 CO-treated ewes had a greater chance of surviving than those from day 12 P4-treated ewes (P < 0.05). There were no differences in the probability for survival of blastocysts from day 9 P4-treated and day 9 CO-treated ewes. There was a day × treatment interaction (P < 0.05). d Ewes necropsied on day 12 of pregnancy had greater concentrations of glucose in uterine flushings than ewes necropsied on day 9 of pregnancy (P < 0.01). e P4 and CO-treated ewes necropsied on day 12 of pregnancy had greater concentrations of glucose in uterine flushings than CO-treated ewes necropsied on day 9 of pregnancy (P < 0.05). f There was a trend for greater concentrations of glucose in the plasma of P4-treated ewes (P < 0.1). g Glucose concentrations in maternal plasma were affected by treatment but not day or their interaction. Data are presented as LSM ± SEM. Different means are indicated by different letters. Only uterine flushings and plasma from ewes which were considered pregnant with normally developed conceptuse were utilized for these analyses