Abstract
The interrelationships between the hypophysis and the ovary have been studied extensively. Changes in the ovary following the administration of anterior lobe substance and extracts have been described by Goetsch, 1 Evans, 2 Zondex and Ascheim, 3 and others. Erdheim and Stumme 4 called attention to changes in the hypophysis during pregnancy. Zondex and Ascheim have demonstrated, in the urine of pregnant women, the presence of a hormone which has all the ovarian growth properties of the anterior hypophysis, and have utilized this in their test for pregnancy. Fels 5 found the same hormone in the blood of pregnant women. Recently Engle and Smith 6 have demonstrated that the amount of ovarian stimulating substance in the hypophysis of the guinea pig varied during the sexual cycle, and was much diminished during the time the vagina was open. Evans and Simpson 7 further showed that this substance was increased by castration, and was present in larger amounts in males than in females.
From the foregoing work the following facts are known: (1) the hypophysis has a powerful action on the ovary; (2) the ovary affects the hypophysis; (3) there is a change in the hypophysis during pregnancy. With these conclusions in view, it seemed reasonable to believe that the ovarian growth stimulating properties of the anterior hypophysis could be increased by the injections of placental extracts which contain a high concentration of oestrin.
Our experiments tend to support this belief. Adult female rats, of approximately the same weight, were castrated, in order to exclude any cyclical variation, allowed to recover for 2 weeks, and then given a series of injections of a commercial alcoholic extract of human placenta which had been carefully standardized.
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