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However, experiments in which the alleviation of nutritional effects by progesterone treatment was attempted have resulted in equivocal results. The current results could suggest the hypothesis that giving exogenous progesterone to compensate for the effect of nutrition is extremely difficult because it would result in many cases in either too much progesterone or inappropriate timing of progesterone influence and would therefore also result in decreased uterine capacity and litter size. To properly compensate for the effect of nutrition on progesterone, the optimum rate of increase of progesterone during early pregnancy must first be defined; this optimum has not been established. Mifepristone treatment had no apparent effects on heart or brain weights, and the effect on liver weights could be explained by the effect of the drug on small fetuses. Overall, regression analysis indicated that brain weights were much less affected by reductions in fetal size than were liver and heart weights, which is consistent with the findings of others. The relationship between brain weight and fetal weight is quadratic, which confirms that mechanisms exist that spare brain development when nutrients are limited.