ANDROGENIC TISSUE bS 



medulla resemble the cells of the androgenic zone of the infant 

 and are probably a remnant of this involuted tissue. Goor- 

 maghtigh observed an hypertrophy of this juxta-medullary 

 tissue in a woman at the menopause who developed hirsutism, 

 in an old woman, and in a third woman during pregnancy. 



It is thus probable that the androgenic tissue may remain 

 throughout life as a small inactive group of cells, which hyper- 

 trophy when the female reproductive system undergoes fun- 

 damental changes. When this hypertrophy becomes pro- 

 nounced the adreno-genital syndrome described in Chapter 

 XXIII results. According to this theory remnants of the 

 androgenic zone which have not undergone degeneration are 

 responsible for the pathological manifestations of the repro- 

 ductive system which are associated with certain tumors of 

 the adrenal. The true interrenal tissue is not involved in the 

 genesis of these disorders (cf. Chapters XXII and XXIII). 



THE ANDROGENIC ZONE IN THE MOUSE 



Howard 318 first demonstrated an area in the mouse, which 

 she designated as the X-zone and which she considered to be 

 homologous to the human androgenic zone. In the young 

 female, this tissue may comprise two-thirds of the entire cor- 

 tex. Although appearing during extra-uterine life, this zone 

 is temporary in its existence and apparently is the functional 

 homologue of the human androgenic zone. Howard showed 

 that the androgenic zone in mice (or X-zone as she called it) 

 disappeared at 38 days (on an average) in male mice. In fe- 

 males the zone underwent involution during the early part of 

 pregnancy, persisting, if the animal did not conceive, for 3 

 to 6 months before it disappeared. Castration caused a pro- 

 longed persistence of the zone in the male but was without 

 effect in the female. Deansley 153 and Whitehead 672 have also 

 made detailed studies of the development and involution of 

 the androgenic^tissue in the mouse adrenal. 



In Figure 8 are reproduced cross sections of the adrenals of 



