Biologically speaking, the difference is not all that great: the principal dissimilarity is in the quantity of certain
hormones during gestation that develop identical tissue into two different sets of parallel organs.
However, the reduction in insulin sensitivity is more pronounced during pregnancy than during diestrus (122), and the alteration in the metabolic control of growth
hormone during gestation may in some way be pregnancy - specific in dogs (123).
Not exact matches
The incredible
hormone surges and drops our bodies undergo
during gestation and postpartum can leave breast tissue expanding and contracting at what seems an alarming rate.
During the first 10 - 12 weeks of
gestation, the baby is completely dependent on mama for thyroid
hormone.
The physiological basis for this aversion stems from a reduced rate of urea synthesis
during pregnancy that is evident in early
gestation [5] as well as increases in the stress
hormone cortisol [6].