Effects of hormonal pretreatment of cardiac necrosis in the Japanese quail.

Male Japanese quail castrated and treated with beta-estradiol-3-benzoate for 3 wk were more resistant than sham-operated males to the necrogenic effects of massive doses of isoproterenol. The estrogen-treated castrate also weighed significantly more and had significantly lower hematocrit ratios than either the sham-operated male or the intact male. These results indicate that there is a definite sex-related protective effect this type of cardiac necrosis which cannot be explained on the basis of differences in body weight.