RELATION TO OTHER ENDOCRINES 227 



ectomy has been repeatedly demonstrated by many observers 

 since attention was first called to this phenomenon by Novak 476 

 in 1914. Adrenal cortical insufficiency induced by disease 

 (as in Addison's disease) or experimentally leads to cessation 

 of the reproductive activity. In the male there is atrophy of 

 the testis with overgrowth of the interstitial tissue and impo- 

 tence. In the female there is a cessation of oestrus and atrophy 

 of the ovaries and other reproductive organs. This interfer- 

 ence with the normal reproductive processes has been observed 

 clinically in Addison's disease and may be produced experi- 

 mentally with ease by maintaining animals in a degree of 

 insufficiency compatible with life. Thus, rats in which acces- 

 sory cortical tissue is left at the time of a bilateral adrenalec- 

 tomy may survive with stunted growth but exhibit an oestrus 

 cycle only rarely and remain sterile. At autopsy one finds in 

 such animals marked atrophy of the genital tract. In male 

 rats dying of adrenal insufficiency, one finds at autopsy pale 

 soft and often edematous testes. Histologically the spermatic 

 tubules are disorganized and degenerated. 476 The spermato- 

 cytes are affected and spermatogenesis is abated. 205 There is 

 an overgrowth of interstitial tissue. The secondary sex organs 

 (prostate, seminal vesicals, etc.) are atrophic. In the female 

 there is marked degeneration of the ova and an increase in the 

 interstitial cells of the ovary. Corpora lutea formation does 

 not occur. The uterus atrophies, both the musculature and 

 mucosa assuming an immature appearance. Similar observa- 

 tions have been made in mice by Masui. 443 



The above described failure of the reproductive system is in 

 part possibly secondary to changes in the pituitary, as already 

 indicated in a preceding section. Implantation of normal rat 

 pituitary bodies into adrenalectomized rats in diestrus results 

 in a re-establishment of the oestrus cycle. This indicates that 

 a pituitary insufficiency secondary to the adrenal insufficiency 

 may be the direct cause of the failure of the reproductive sys- 

 tem. At least the oestrus cycle is still elicitable by anterior 



