An experiment was conducted to study the effects of different Chinese herbs on lactation in the rat. Seventy-two Sprague Dawley female rats at gestation day 18 were assigned to 9 groups randomly, with 8 rats each. Control rats were offered basal diets until the end of the weaning period. Rats in the other 8 groups were administered diets supplemented with 1% Medulla tetrapanacis (MT), Astragalus membranacens(AM), Vaccaria segetalis(VS), Leonurus heterophyllus sweet (LHS), Radix rehmanniae preparata (RRP), Squama manitis (SM), Schisandra chinensis (SC), Ligustrum lucidum (LL), respectively. After parturition, the litter size was culled to 8 pups per dam. Pup weight and milk yield were significantly higher in the VS, LHS, AM and SM groups than these in the control group during middle and late lactation (P<0.05 or P<0.01). The weight and feed intake were not different in the dams fed either diet.
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