Actions of Diethylstilbestrol in the Albino Rat

Four experiments were conducted utilizing either weanling or young adult normal male albino rats. These animals were fed either stock diets or semi-synthetic diets, containing either 0, 0.15, 0.3, 0.6 or 2.4 µg of diethylstilbestrol/gm, either by the trio or ad libitum feeding technique for periods of 6–15 weeks. It is concluded that diethylstilbestrol feeding in the albino rat induces statistically significant decreases in body weight gain, feed efficiency, body length, and testes size; it induces statistically significant increases in basal metabolic rate and in pituitary, thyroid and adrenal sizes.