394 INANITION AND MALNUTRITION 



Blumenthal ('04) mentioned that in fasting frogs the ovary atrophies, though 

 to a lesser degree than the testes and other organs. 



Kahan ('04a) experimented for 2 years with 2 hens, 1 used as a normal con- 

 trol, the other subjected to starvation, with loss of about 50 per cent in weight, 

 and then fully refed to normal weight. In the hen previously starved, the 

 spring period of egg-laying began later and the eggs were smaller and weighed 

 less than normal. The eggs were non-fertilized, hence their capacity for develop- 

 ment was not tested. 



Heape ('05) held that sex may be affected by quantitative or qualitative 

 variation in the ovarian nutrition during the process of oogenesis. 



Russo ('06, '06a) studied carefully the effects of nutrition and inanition upon 

 the developing ova in the rabbit. The mitochondria normally present in the 

 oocytes, perivitelline space and cells of the corona radiata disappear during 

 inanition. The ova normally contain certain specific deutoplasmic materials, 

 staining black with iron-hematoxylin, which are increased by hypernutrition 

 (lecithin injections), but disappear during inanition. The germinal epithelium 

 of the ovary during inanition becomes atrophic, with pycnotic nuclei. 



Comes ('07) likewise found the ovarian ova in the cat to be highly variable 

 and plastic structures. In the zona pellucida and ooplasm there normally 

 appear certain chromatic bodies, staining with iron-hematoxylin, and inter- 

 preted as trophic materials derived from the follicle cells for the nourishment of 

 the developing ovum. These materials decrease or disappear during pregnancy 

 or inanition. 



Russo ('09) continued his studies on the effects of inanition upon the ovary 

 of the rabbit, finding a disintegration and chromatolysis of the granulosa cells, 

 thus furnishing a modified nutriment for the developing ovum; a process of 

 possible significance in the determination of sex. Russo ('10, '10a, '10b) 

 concluded that the rabbit's ovary contains two types of ova, capable of experi- 

 mental modification: an anabolic type (female-producing), rich in lecithin 

 globules; and a katabolic type (male-producing), containing fatty acid crystals. 

 Russo ('10c, '12) found that during inanition the deutoplasmic materials 

 (myelin globules derived from mitochondria) in the developing ovum may be 

 profoundly modified. In the earlier stages of inanition these materials may be 

 increased in amount; but later they are decreased, with deformity of the mito- 

 chondria and atrophy of the ovum and follicle cells. 



Burkhardt ('12) described the resorption of the ova in non-copulating female 

 Rana esculenta, the process being the same as during starvation. The zona 

 pellucida disappears first, and the granulosa cells enlarge through absorption of 

 the yolk granules. These cells send cytoplasmic processes into the yolk and 

 become loaded with pigment. Blood vessels and mesodermic cells invade and 

 resorb the pigmented degeneration products, as in the formation of a normal 

 corpus luteum. Finally only a pigmented scar remains in the place of the 

 resorbed ovum. Progressive changes, with ripening new ova, may occur simul- 

 taneously with the involution process. 



Heidkamp ('09) observed marked involution of the female reproductive tract 

 in fasting Triton cristatus. In a well-fed female 109 mm. long, the ovary was 21 



