A Test for the Demonstration of Estrin in the Blood of Women. ∗

Abstract

It was previously shown 1 that a mucification of the vaginal mucosa of adult spayed mice may readily be induced by the injection of blood serum from women in the premenstruum or in early pregnancy. At that time it was generally believed that this change in the test animal was brought about by a specific corpus luteum hormone, but the more recent studies of Robson, 2 Robson and Wiesner, 3 and Meyer and Allen 4 indicate that it is an effect of small doses of estrin.

The induction of mucification of the vaginal mucosa of adult spayed mice may thus be employed as a test for the presence of estrin in the blood of women with various clinical conditions. The procedure at present in use consists of injecting a total of 4.5 cc. of clear blood serum into mice which have been castrated for from 5 to 8 days. The animals are injected subcutaneously 3 times daily with 0.5 cc. and are sacrificed in 72 hours. The vagina is dissected free, fixed in formalin, and mounted in paraffin. Sections are made at different levels and stained with hematoxylin-eosin.

Including the 25 cases previously reported, 1 tested by a slightly different technique, 57 observations have been made on the blood of women at various phases of the menstrual cycle. Of 10 women examined during the early stage of proliferation (days 4 to 7 of a 30-day cycle), 2 gave a positive result and 8 negative; of 15 in the late stage of proliferation (days 8 to 14) 9 were positive and 6 negative; of 18 in the early stage of secretion (days 15 to 21) 15 were positive and 3 negative; of 7 in the late stage of secretion (days 21 to 28) 6 were positive and one negative; of 3 examined within 48 hours of the appearance of the menses one was positive and 2 negative; and of 4 during menstruation one was positive and 3 negative.