THE GONADOTROPIC HORMONES 



liter, a concentration which persists after 120 daysJ The 

 rapid rise is prevented by fetal death or if the fetus is dying. 

 Less accurate studies have been reported by Bourg and Le- 

 grand (1935), Ehrhardt (1936), and Spoto (1936). Bourg 

 and Legrand also investigated the concentration of prolan in 

 the serum and placenta. Their results justify the belief that 

 the peak of urinary excretion coincides with high concentra- 

 tions of prolan in the serum and placenta. (Ehrhardt like- 

 wise concluded that the concentration of prolan in the urine 

 and serum is about the same.) The concentration of prolan 

 in the amniotic fluid was found to be 7-33 per cent of that in 

 serum. 5 



Smith and Smith (1935) have again pointed out that high 

 concentrations of prolan in the serum are associated with 

 toxemias of pregnancy, including eclampsia. However, Bourg 

 and Legrand (1935) as well as Ehrhardt concluded that, al- 

 though this is true of what are termed toxemias, an ab- 

 normally high prolan titer may not be found in the serum in 

 eclampsia. 



Some aspects of the fate of prolan after its administration 

 to normal men or animals have been investigated. Fried- 

 man and Weinstein (1937) found that no more than 20 per 

 cent of a dose of prolan injected intramuscularly into men 

 could be recovered in the urine. After large doses by mouth 

 (8,000-42,500 rat-units), none was detected in the urine. 

 Stamler (1937) made other observations in the dog and the 

 gelding. New experiments in rabbits were reported by Lip- 



^ Evans, Kohls, and Wonder observed maximum excretions of 75,000-1,040,000 

 rat-units in 24 hours compared with 2,600-15,000 rat-units at other times. 



5 The convenient and accurate methods of diagnosing pregnancy are those de- 

 pending upon ovarian changes in immature rodents or ovulation in adult isolated 

 rabbits. Intracutaneous tests in the patients themselves are of no value (Schneider 

 and Cohen, 1937). Although chromatosome-dispersing ("melanophore-expanding") 

 hormone is found more frequently in the urine of pregnant women, its presence is 

 not reliable as indication of pregnancy (Mandelstamm, 1935; Jores, 1936; Bruck- 

 mann, 1937; Raza and Spurrell, 1937). Dychno (1936) considered such a test 

 reliable. 



For descriptions of a method based upon a color-reaction in urine see Visscher 

 and Bowman (1934) and Friedrich (1936). 



[ 127] 



