Abstract
Summary
In growing guinea pigs, ovariectomy causes hyperplasia and hypertrophy of the epiphyseal cartilage, whereas its calcification and ossification are not accelerated in the same ratio. Consequently, the closure of the epiphyseal line is delayed, and a relative increase in the size of the individual bone may occur. Whether these changes may lead to gigantism-like, permanent conditions or whether they are only of a temporary nature, which may become compensated at a later stage, is not as yet decided. The above effect of ovariectomy is interfered with by the interaction of acid extract of cattle anterior pituitary, which has the tendency to exert its specific growth-promoting and calcifying influence on the cartilage. If the two factors act simultaneously, a competition between both principles takes place and a combination effect results, the outcome of which determines the course of the endochondral ossification.
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