GONADOTROPIC SUBSTANCES 



ported by Zondek and Berblinger (1931), and Collip and 

 others (1933), have been studied in detail by Baniecki (1932), 

 Desdin (1933), Nelson (1934), Sever.inghaus (1934), and 

 Wolfe and his co-workers (i934).^5 Microscopically they ap- 

 peared to resemble the changes occurring in the course of 

 normal pregnancy (particularly loss of granules from baso- 

 philic cells and hypertrophy of basophilic cells according to 

 some authors). Similar changes were not observed in spayed 

 rats. The anatomical changes in the pituitary following cas- 

 tration were not prevented by the administration of prolan 

 (Zondek and Berblinger, 1931; Baniecki, 1934) unless they 

 were the result of cryptorchidism (Nelson, 1934). The re- 

 duced gonadotropic potency of pituitaries of rats which had 

 received prolan (Kuschinsky, 1931; Leonard, 1933) is best 

 interpreted as an effect of the increased secretion of oestrin 

 or testicular hormone. 



Severinghaus reported hypertrophy of the pars intermedia 

 as a result of prolan administration. There is no evidence 

 that prolan has any effect on the pars neuralis. 



Prolar2 and the thyroid, parathyroids, adrenals, epiphysis, 

 and thymus. — Prolan seems to have no significant effect on 

 the thyroid (see chap, vii) although Collip and others (1933) 

 reported that it might become hypertrophied in female but 

 not male rats following the administration of the hormone. ^^ 

 In thyro-parathyroidectomized female dogs, prolan caused 

 severe tetany if the ovaries were intact and oestrus appeared 

 (Mathieu, 1933). Histologic changes in the adrenal cortex 

 have been attributed to the administration of prolan by 



^5 Karp (19J3) has studied the pituitary of the rabbit after prolan injection; Des- 

 din (1932, 1934) has made a similar study in the guinea pig after the injection of 

 pregnancy-urine. Goodman (1935) declared that the gonad-stimulating potency 

 of the pituitary of the adult male or female rabbit was increased after the adminis- 

 tration of prolan. His series of rats used for assay was small; although the rats 

 were nearly 4 weeks old at death, the weights of their paired ovaries were often 

 very low (e.g., 4.4-12.0 mg. after "stimulation"). 



^' Fluhmann (1934) investigated the changes in the ovaries brought about by the 

 administration of both prolan and desiccated thyroid. 



