Abstract
We have shown that different preparations of the anterior pituitary gland of different species, as well as urine of pregnant women, exert on the sex organs of immature guinea pigs varying effects. The differences were not equally marked in all cases; they were quite definite in the following 3 groups: (a) various preparations of anterior pituitary of cattle; (b) urine of pregnant women, and (c) anterior pituitary of guinea pig, rabbit and cat. Within the latter group (c) the differences between cat and rabbit were of a quantitative character, rabbit anterior pituitary showing somewhat greater effects than cat anterior pituitary; otherwise they were essentially the same. The effects of anterior pituitary of guinea pig differed from those of anterior pituitary of rabbit and cat, in that in the former the development of large mature follicles was very prominent, while the production of pseudolutein bodies and interstitial gland was relatively insignificant in contrast to the latter, in which the pseudoluteinizing effects were much more marked. Our attempts to make the effects of the anterior pituitaries of rabbit and guinea pig identical by varying the quantities of both, were not quite successful. We concluded therefore that, while quantitative differences in the concentration of the active principles in the anterior pituitary of rabbit and guinea pig were partly responsible for the results obtained, there might be in addition a difference in the relative strength of the principle supposed to promote the growth and maturation of follicles on the one hand and of the pseudoluteinizing agent on the other hand. To investigate further, we carried out a new series of experiments in which we varied to a still greater extent the quantities of anterior pituitary glands of different species inoculated into immature guinea pigs; we also tested the effects of rat anterior pituitaries.
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