The detection of ovulation and early pregnancy in the baboon by direct measurement of conjugated steroids in urine

The pattern of excretion of urinary steroid metabolites in the olive baboon (Papio anubis) was examined during the menstrual cycle and in conception cycles in which embryos were surgically removed at intervals between day 11 and day 21 (day 0 = day of preovulatory estrogen peak). Conjugated estrone and pregnanediol-3α-glucuronide were measured in overnight urine samples by direct, nonextraction assays, and the levels were indexed by creatinine. Results showed that measurement of urinary conjugated estrone reflected preovulatory estrogen output and that pregnanediol-3α-glucuronide was an abundant urinary metabolite of progesterone. There was a defined postovulatory increase in the excretion of conjugated estrone during conception cycles in eight of ten animals. The timing of the increase ranged between day 13 and day 19 and was related to the appearance of elevated levels of urinary gonadotrophin. In four animals, increased estrogen excretion was first detected after the day of embryo removal, but this was most likely a response to chorionic gonadotrophin secreted before surgery. The findings demonstrate that measurement of conjugated estrone offers a rapid and practical approach for monitoring ovulation and implantation in the baboon by a single assay technique.