Abstract
Aycock 1 has reported that castrated immature female monkeys given estrogenic hormone intramuscularly showed a higher level of resistance to intranasal inoculation with poliomyelitis virus than untreated castrates. His studies apparently were prompted in part by endocrinological observations showing that nasal mucosal changes are associated with the changes induced in the vaginal epithelium by estrogenic hormone under experimental conditions. Prominent among the observed genital responses is a thinning of the vaginal epithelium following castration and its restoration to normal with the administration of estrogenic hormone. However, so far as we are aware the nasal changes reported deal only with vascular responses in the region of the inferior and middle turbinates. 2 Possible changes in the olfactory portion of the nasal mucosa apparently have thus far not been considered.
Inasmuch as it has been established that in monkeys inoculated with poliomyelitis virus by the intranasal route the portal of entry is through the olfactory portion of the nasal mucosa, the results obtained by Aycock suggested the desirability of an experiment in which estrogen would be brought into direct contact with the olfactory mucosa for a number of days, immediately following which some of the animals would be tested for resistance to virus by the intranasal route and the olfactory mucosae of others would be examined histologically for possible anatomic responses.
Fifteen uncastrated female Macacus rhesus monkeys were given theelin in oil (10,000 International Units per cc solution†) by intranasal instillation, daily, as indicated in Table I. The instillations were made while the animals were under deep ether anesthesia and held in the fully inverted position in a special animal holder. They were made with a Luer syringe, to which was attached a 1-inch needle with a blunt point.
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