Abstract
Astwood has demonstrated that 6 hours after the administration of estrogens to the 21-day-old rat. there is an increase in uterine weight. 1 This weight increase is largely due to increased hydration (edema) of the uterus. Pincus and Graubard have essentially confirmed these findings. 2 Zuckerman has stated that androgens also cause increased hydration of the uterus in the monkey. 3 Astwood in a brief report has stated that androgens will cause a uterine weight increase in rats similar to that caused by estrogens. 4
The Astwood technic as originally proposed for estrogen assays is a very rapid and convenient one. Reports have appeared in which it has been applied to urinary estrogen assays. 5 Inasmuch as androgens are known to be present in the urines of normal, pregnant or castrate women, it seems of interest to report our findings as to the uterine weight-increasing effects of various androgens.
Findings. All animals were given the androgen subcutaneously in 0.1 cc of peanut oil and were killed 6 hours after the treatment. Peanut oil has previously been tested in this laboratory and found to contain neither estrogen nor androgen. The cervico-vaginal junctions were cut, the uteri carefully removed and immediately weighed on a Roller-Smith balance sensitive to 0.02 mg. The tissues were preserved in Bouin's fluid and representative uteri were examined microscopically. Detailed weight-findings are presented in tabular form (Table I).
The animals of Groups 1 and 2 were 21 days old. Group 1 served as controls (A). As can be noted in the table, 0.5 mg testosterone (Group 2) caused a statistically significant increase in uterine weight, 22.8% over that of the controls.
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