Effects of Ovaries in Various Stages of Activity and of Pregnancy Upon Adrenalectomized Rats

Abstract

Conclusions

Oophorectomy and the absence of the corpora lutea of ovulation does not shorten the survival period of bilateral adrenalectomized white rats.

II . Effect of the presence of the corpus luteum of lactation.

Of 7 females in this group, 2 were operated upon the day before delivery, one 7 days, one 8 days, one 10 days, one 14 days, and one 16 days post partum. Except in the first two, lactation was well established and adequate. Exploration of the ovaries at the time of operation showed the presence of many large, firm lutein bodies in each ovary. In the first 2 individuals, the breasts were never well filled with milk and the young remained weak until death. In the others, active lactating organs declined and were dry from the second to the fourth day.

The young, normal and active until operation upon the mother, mere moribund between the second and fifth days, post-operative, 2nd died from the third to the sixth day after maternal adrenalectomy, the average post-operative survival period of the young being 3.8 days. The mothers passed through the usual stages of decline due to adrenal insufficiency, with weight loss, lowering of body temperature, asthenia, and death, which occurred on the fourth day after operation in 2, the fifth clay in one, the seventh in 3, and the ninth in one, With an average of 6.0 days for the series.

Three lactating females, etherized only, showed no alteration in health or milk supply.

The presence of the corpus luteum of lactation does not prolong the life of bilateral adrenalectomized white rats.

III. Effect of pregnancy. Of the 7 animals in this group, one was in the seventh day of gestation, one in the thirteenth, 2 in the fifteenth, one in the sixteenth, one in the seventeenth, and one in the eighteenth day of gestation. Bilateral adrenalectomy was done under the standard conditions outlined. A group of 3 pregnant females were etherized only. No significant changes were noted in these and they went on to normal term delivery.

The 7 animals operated upon showed the usual signs of adrenal insufficiency on the fourth day, with loss of weight and body temperature, asthenia, and death. Three animals died with the young stuck in the birth canal on the third, sixth, and eighth days respectively; a fourth died on the sixth day after aborting, and three died on the fourth, seventh, and tenth days, respectively, with the young apparently viable in the uterus. Autopsy showed a coincident pneumonia in the animal dying on the seventh day. Other autopsy findings in the maternal and foetal tissues will be reported later. The average survival period for this group was 6.3 days.

Pregnancy in the white rat does not prolong the survival period after bilateral adrenalectomy.