THE PITUITARY BODY 



of an excess to be excreted, or is it due to an increased secre- 

 tion and renal excretion of gonadotropic hormone in the ab- 

 sence of the antagonizing gonadal activity characteristic of 

 adults? Failure in utilization and/or absence of gonadal ac- 

 tivity may also explain the increased urinary excretion of 

 gonadotropic hormone by women past the menopause or 

 after ovariectomy. 



Little is known of the effect of the anterior-pituitary gon- 

 adotropic hormone(s) on the human ovary. ^'' In one case of 

 amenorrhea in a young woman who came under the author's 

 observation, several intramuscular and one intravenous in- 

 jection of an extract of the pituitary of the sheep caused the 

 formation of a great number of cystic follicles. Wagner (1928) 

 found numerous lutein cysts in the ovaries of a woman with a 

 tumor of the pars glandularis; the uterine mucosa was pro- 

 gravid in appearance — as is the case if the ovary contains an 

 actively secreting corpus luteum. Kraus (1933) stated that 

 cystic degeneration of the ovary was found in about three- 

 fourths of female patients with increased intracranial pres- 

 sure. The urine of such patients often contained an increased 

 amount of gonadotropic hormone. Kraus's results suggested 

 that an excessive amount of gonadotropic hormone was se- 

 creted by the pars glandularis which was found to be hyper- 

 trophied. 



THE SECRETION OF GONADOTROPIC HORMONe(s) BY THE 



PARS GLANDULARIS OF THE PITUITARY IN RELATION 



TO THE GONADS AND THEIR INTERNAL SECRETIONS 



The gonadotropic potency of the pituitary in relation to sex. — 

 No general statement as to the relationship between the 

 gonadotropic effects of the pituitary and the sex of the ani- 

 mal serving as donor can be made; in some animals, the male 

 pituitary is the more potent, in others, the female. The re- 

 sults of different authors are summarized in Table V. 



^*The paper of Laroche and Simmonet (1932) contains no useful data. 

 [ 14^- ] 



