THE PITUITARY BODY 



breasts. The author injected the hormone intraperitoneally 

 from the day of delivery. The treatment caused considerable 

 ovarian hypertrophy owing, apparently, to new formation of 

 lutein tissue. Howard (1936) as well as Jadassohn, Uehlinger, 

 and Ziircher (1937) observed that the injection of prolan- 

 containing extracts caused enlargement and elongation of 

 the nipples in rats and guinea pigs. The effects, which can 

 also be produced by an oestrogen, were more marked in fe- 

 male animals. The prolonged injection of Howard's acid ex- 

 tract of the blood of pregnant women caused growth and 

 differentiation of the mammary glands which often secreted 

 milk (after injection for 90 days). The injection of the ex- 

 tract for 6.5-9 iiioriths was accompanied by regression of the 

 secretory phenomena and the development of adenomata in 

 the breasts. Howard stated that all these changes were ab- 

 sent in gonadectomized rats. 



The effects of pro I mj in relation to glands of internal secretion 

 other than the gonads, i. The thyroid. — Thyroidectomy does 

 not alter the response of the rabbit's ovary to prolan (Pit- 

 zorno and Serra, 1936: 20 rat-units on alternate days for 

 10 days). The same is true of the hormone's gonadotropic 

 effect in male or female rats (Leonard, 1936; Leonard and 

 Hansen, 1936). 



1. The adrenals. — Several recent authors agree in their 

 description of the effects of prolan on the adrenal glands in 

 such mammals as the guinea pig, rabbit, rat, and mouse 

 (Inohara, Savona, 1935; De Boissezon, 1936). The hyper- 

 trophy which occurs is limited to the cortex and has been 

 compared with that of pregnancy. The chief alteration is 

 in the zona fasciculata, the cells of which enlarge and con- 

 tain more lipoid than usual. The zona glomerulosa may be 

 narrowed.'^ According to Pitzorno and Serra (see above), 



"Takewaki (1935) stated that the prolonged injection of prolan or pregnancy- 

 urine had little effect on the adrenal of the female mouse, whereas in males it caused 

 a disappearance of the zona reticularis with the formation of a membrane in its 

 place. 



Bau (1936) declared that pregnancy-urine, extract of corpora lutea, pars neuralis 



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