THE PITUITARY BODY 



amounts of gonadotropic hormone secreted by the abnormal 

 chorionic cells. Similarly, Novak and Koff (1930) described 

 hyperluteinization of the granulosa and-theca which they 

 also ascribed to the prolan. 



Malignant tumors of the testis. — A prolan-like gonadotropic 

 hormone may be excreted in small or very large amounts 

 (e.g., 10,000 mouse-units per liter) in the urine of patients 

 with malignant tumors of the testis (Heidrich, Fels, and 

 Mathias, 1930; Zondek, 1932; Ferguson, Gerber, Hamburger, 

 1933; Fluhmann and Hoffmann, 1934; and others). The 

 testicular neoplasms in these patients have been described 

 by a variety of terms such as teratoma, chorionepithelioma 

 (teratoma?), carcinoma, epithelioma, and seminoma. It is of 

 interest to note that direct and indirect effects of gonado- 

 tropic hormone may be manifested in the patient himself by 

 changes in the interstitial cells, hypertrophy of the prostate 

 and seminal vesicles, and histological and biological changes 

 (gonadotropic potency of implants) in the anterior pituitary 

 resembling pregnancy. 



In the opinion of Evans and others,-'^ the gonadotropic 

 hormone obtained from the urine of a case of embryonal 

 carcinoma of the testis differed from prolan in its biological 

 effects (pronounced ovarian and testicular growth including 

 an effect on spermatogenesis in immature rats, hypertrophy 

 of the pigeon testis, etc.). Main and Leonard (1934) reported 

 that an extract of urine from a man with teratoma testis pro- 

 duced, like prolan, a limited degree of ovarian hypertrophy; 

 however, this hypertrophy, unlike that due to prolan, was 

 chiefly the result of follicular growth. On the other hand, 

 Twombly and Ferguson (1934) produced "antihormone" by 

 the prolonged injection into rabbits of prolan or gonadotropic 

 hormone from the urine of cases of teratoma testis. Assays 

 in mice showed that the injection of the "anti-serum" of pro- 

 lan prevented gonadotropic effects by either prolan or the 



' ^5 Evans, Simpson, Austin, and Ferguson (1933), and Evans and Simpson (1934). 

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