226 p. N. MARTINOVITCH, D. PAVIC, D SLADIC-SIMIC AND N. ZIVKOVIC 



concentration in all tested adrenals, i.e. those that run, and those that do not 

 run, in pairs, removed before and after exposure of rats to X-rays, are 

 correlated, a difference of 30% will be observed, which, we found, is statistic- 

 ally significant. It should be noted that this fall is considerably less than in 

 hypophysectomized-grafted rats with undisturbed median eminence, where 

 the drop fell to 55%, and was even greater than in normal rats. These fijidings, 

 because of the incomplete factual background, however clear the implications 

 seem to be, we do not consider sufiiciently convincing to draw the conclusion 

 in favour of a hypothalamic control of the anterior pituitary activity; or, in 

 other words, we think that the experiments must be repeated. 



Bacq et al. (1960) destroyed the median eminence in normal rats by the 

 electro-coagulation technique. Two days later such rats were exposed to a 

 lethal dose (whole-body irradiation) of X-rays. Three hours later no drop in 

 cholesterol concentration in the adrenals of these rats was observed. It would 

 be interestmg to know what would have happened if the rats had been 

 irradiated after the healing process on the median eminence had taken place. 



For the inconsistent reactions on the part of the functional testes in 

 hypophysectomized-grafted rats (Table IV) following the destruction of the 

 median eminence more than one explanation can be offered. One of them is 

 that the injury inflicted on the median eminance did not in every individual 

 case cover the same area or was not of the same severity. Another, less Hkely 

 but not to be excluded, is that following hypophysectomy small areas of the 

 anterior pituitary tissue had remained adherent to the hypophyseal stalk and 

 were destroyed by micro-coagulation. The involution of the remaining testis 

 following the destruction of the median eminence that took place in 3 rats 

 containing pituitary grafts is of special interest for us, for if the phenomenon 

 turns out to be reproducible it may prove to be of real importance. The end 

 point of the mvolutionary process in these cases is quite comparable with the 

 value obtained following the removal of the pituitary graft. It should be 

 noted here that an involution of the testes following their recovery in animals 

 with healthy pituitary grafts was never observed. We regret to say that a 

 histological study of the stalk region has not yet been made. 



EEFERENCES 



Bacq, Z. M., Martinovitch, P., Fischer, P., Pavlovitch, M., and Sladic-Simic, D. 



(1956a). Arch. Int. Physiol. Biochem. 64, 278. 

 Bacq, Z. M., IVIartinovitch, P., Fischer, P., Sladic-Simic, D., Pavlovitch, M., and 



Radivojevitch, D. (1956b). Bull. Acad. R. Med. Belg., VI° serie, 21, 328. 

 Bacq, Z. M., Martinovitch, P., Fischer, P., Pavlovitch, M., and Sladic-Simic, D. 



(1957a). In "Advances in Radiobiology", p. 237. Oliver and Boyd. London. 

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Eadivojevitch, D. (1957b), Radiation Res. 7, 373. 



