THE PITUITARY BODY 



schiitz, Fuente-xAlba, and Vivaldi (1935). Tissue fixation or 

 destruction of the hormone was indicated by the fact that 

 10 hours after intravenous injection, 30 per cent of the prolan 

 had disappeared from the blood of nephrectomized rabbits; 

 80 per cent was lost in normal rabbits. Nizza and Berutti 

 (1936) compared the changes in one intact ovary with the 

 other which was transplanted into a second rabbit 30-120 

 minutes after the injection of urine of pregnancy. The differ- 

 ences appeared to be quantitative. 



The gonadotropic ejects of prolan in fishes, amphibia, and 

 reptiles. — Some of the effects of prolan in cold-blooded ani- 

 mals have been described already. *" Schreiber (1935) reported 

 that the administration of prolan to immature eels can cause 

 changes characteristic of testicular maturation, including the 

 differentiation of spermatogonia into normal spermatozoa. 

 According to Morosowa (1936), perch (November to March; 

 weight 250-750 gm.) receiving prolan, although kept in 

 water at 6-9° C, produce ripe eggs and spermatozoa, from 

 which fertilized eggs can be secured. Shapiro (1936) demon- 

 strated that in the toad, Xenopus laevis, the injection of pro- 

 lan evoked amplexus in animals which otherwise were in a 

 state of complete sexual inactivity. Ovulation, oviposition, 

 and fertilization occurred. The offspring were raised to the 

 tadpole stage. Turner's experiments (1935) were performed 

 with the lizard, Eumeces laticeps. During the season of in- 

 volution of the gonads, the injection of prolan (20 rat-units 

 twice daily for 20 days) caused hypertrophy of the testes and 

 the epididymides with the production of mature sperma- 

 tozoa. Such treatment caused enlargment of the oviducts 

 but had no effect on the ovaries. When the animals were ac- 

 tive sexually, the response was much smaller. 



The effects of prolan in warm-blooded animals.'^ i. Male 



^ See chap, iii and the Index. 



' Prolan is without demonstrated action on the gonads of birds (see pp. 52, 58). 

 Schunterman (1935) declared that an intravenous injection of an extract of digitahs 

 evoked emesis less frequently in pigeons which had received 1 units of prolan intra- 

 muscularly ID minutes before. 



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