Gonad cross-transplantation in Sebright and Leghorn fowls.

Abstract

The main problem attacked was the question of a difference in the endocrine secretions of the testes of the Sebright and the Leghorn. The Sebright male is so-called “hen-feathered” as it has a feathering similar to that of the female, while the Leghorn male is male-feathered. The work of Morgan 1 (and later of Eliot, unpublished) shows that the castration of the male Sebright is followed by the formation of capon feathers (usually called male feathers); thus the testis of the Sebright, like the ovary of the hen, and unlike the testis of the Leghorn, inhibits the formation of male feathers. Morgan concluded from this result and from later histological studies, in conjunction with Miss Boring, 2 that the Sebright and the Leghorn testes have different endocrine secretions, and that the Sebright testis contains cells indentical with the so-called luteal cells of the ovary, the presumed source of the internal secretion of the latter, which are responsible for hen-feathering of the male. Thus the Sebright was regarded as hermaphroditic in respect to its endocrine apparatus. The relation of the so-called luteal cells of the testis to henfeathering, however, has been denied by M. s. Pease, 3 Goodale, and Nonidez, 4 who arrived at the conclusion that there is no morphological difference between the testes of different breeds to account for a presumed difference in their endocrine functioning. This led Prof. F. R. Lillie to suggest that the problem be attacked experimentally. The work was done on 10 Autotransplantation in the Leghorn, 2 Autotransplantation in the Sebright, 50 Cross-transplantation of Sebright testis into the Leghorn capon, 38 Cross-transplantation of Leghorn testis into the Sebright capon.

Autoplastic grafts grow readily in both breeds, and, when sufficiently developed, substitute completely, both physiologically and psychologically, for the normal glands.