Abstract
Twenty-two female rats were injected daily from their twenty-first day of life with various hypophyseal extracts. These preparations were separated from the filtrate obtained by the calcium-phosphate adsorption process, as described in a previous communication. 1 This filtrate was treated with saturated ammonium sulfate and the resulting- precipitate was further purified by precipitation with 50% acetone or, in some instances, 70% alcohol. These extracts were rich in thyreotropic hormone but they also contained some gonadotropic hormone. After 6 to 10 weeks' treatment with these preparations (50 to 100 units thyreotropic daily), the animals were killed and their organs examined histologically
It was found that the ovaries showed definite signs of involution. Mature follicles or fresh corpora lutea were never present, and the ovary consisted mainly of interstitial tissue.
The anterior lobe of the hypophysis showed marked degenerative changes. Cells of unusual size, having an excentric nucleus and a large vacuole in the cytoplasm, were observed. These elements are very similar to the so-called “castration cells” or the cells observed after thyroidectomy. In many cases hemorrhages were seen in the anterior lobe, and large cysts lined with epithelium and filled with colloid were frequently observed.
These findings show that marked histological changes of a degenerative type may be produced in the hypophysis by the chronic administration of hypophyseal extracts.
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