GONADS AND THE PITUITARY BODY 



so far lacking — both from the confirmation of their experi- 

 ments and from other data. 



Engle (1932) found that the injection of an extract of the 

 anterior pituitary into immature male monkeys brought 

 about both a descent and a hypertrophy of the testes. The 

 treatment, although causing an increase in the diameter of 

 the tubules, did not hasten spermatogenesis. 



There exist comparatively few observations in man. The 

 discussion of the gonadotropic hormones found in human 

 body-fluids and tissues in pregnancy, in individuals with 

 malignant tumors, in spayed women, or in old age, etc., will 

 be found in chapter v.^^ Zondek (1931), and Schockaert and 

 Siebke (1933), as well as others, have investigated the amount 

 of gonadotropic hormone in the human pars glandularis. 

 Schockaert and Siebke concluded that the amount of hor- 

 mone in the human pituitary''' is far greater than formerly 

 had been supposed. They estimated that the adult gland 

 contains 3,000-4,000 units of follicle-stimulating hormone (i 

 mouse-unit is about 0.1 mg. of tissue) and 1,000-1,500 units of 

 luteinizing hormone (i mouse-unit is about 0.3 mg. of tissue). 

 Their data — if correct — indicate that the human anterior 

 pituitary is one of the richest sources of gonadotropic hor- 

 mone (s). 



The urine of children, and of pubescent or adolescent boys 

 and girls, appears to contain gonadotropic hormone more 

 often than does that of adult men and women with physio- 

 logically active gonads (Soeken, 1932).'^ Is this due to the 

 excretion of anterior-pituitary gonadotropic hormone until 

 the time it is utilized by the mature gonads when there is less 



^3 Watts (1932) could detect no gonad-stimulating hormone in the urine (as much 

 as 24 cc.) or serum (as much as 7.5 cc.) of patients in whom chromophobe or oxyphil 

 (acromegaly) adenoma of the pituitary was diagnosed. Also see Candela (1931); 

 Hirsch-HoflFmann (1932); and Trancu-Rainer and Vladutiu (1933). 



^■» Of males and non-pregnant females. 



^5 This observation was not confirmed in the smaller series of observations by 

 Katzman and Doisy (1934). 



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