ACCESSORY MAMMALIAN REPRODUCTIVE GLANDS 



399 



examined. The results of this early work 

 contributed extensively to the fields of bio- 

 chemistry, biology, and medicine. More 

 recently there have been studies on the rela- 

 tion of hormones to the ultrastructure, his- 

 tochemistry, and metabolism of the glands, 

 and to the chemical composition of their 

 secretions ( Section II I . 



In the following section, the hormonal 

 control of structure and function will be 

 discussed with particular reference to the 

 luniierous studies on the prostate glands 

 and seminal vesicles of rats and mice. 



B. EFFECTS OF ANDROGENS 



The term androgen will be used in the 

 collective sense for substances that are 

 capable of stimulating accessory repro- 

 ductive glands in castrated animals and 

 maintaining normal histologic structure and 

 secretory activity in the epithelium. Andro- 

 genic substances are formed by the testes, 

 ovaries, and adrenal cortex. All androgens 

 which have been characterized are steroids. 

 The urine contains many androgen metabo- 

 lites, mainly in the form of their conjugates 

 with either glucuronic or sulfuric acids. 

 Testosterone is the principal androgen se- 

 creted by the testis and this substance, or 

 tiie longer acting testosterone propionate, 

 is most commonly used as a replacement 

 for testicular androgen. In the last two 

 decades a number of unnatural androgens 

 [e.g., 17a-methyl testosterone) have been 

 synthesized and found to possess strong 

 biologic activity. The relationship between 

 chemical structure of steroids and andro- 



genic activity in a variety of bioassay pro- 

 cedures is discussed by Dorfman and Ship- 

 ley (1956). 



1. Testicular Androgens 



The effects of endogenous and exogenous 

 androgen on weight, histologic structure, 

 and secretory activity of the accessory 

 glands have been reviewed by Moore 

 (1939), Price (1947), Burrows (1949), 

 Dorfman (1950), Dorfman and Shipley 

 (1956) and many others. Aspects of meta- 

 bolic activity have been treated by Roberts 

 and Szego (1953) and Mann (1954a). 



The first detailed cytologic studies of 

 male accessory glands and the changes fol- 

 lowing castration and hormone administra- 

 tion were made on the prostates, coagulat- 

 ing glands, and seminal vesicles of adult 

 rats (Moore, Price and Gallagher, 1930; 

 Moore, Hughes and Gallagher, 1930). Ex- 

 tensive research on structure and function 

 of these and other accessory glands in many 

 species followed this early work, but the 

 cytologic structure of prostates and seminal 

 vesicles of rats and mice remains one of the 

 most sensitive indicators for androgenic 

 hormones. 



Rat PROSTATE AND SEMINAL VESICLES. Ven- 

 tral prostate. In the normal adult gland, the 

 columnar secretory epithelium has basal 

 nuclei with conspicuous nucleoli and chro- 

 matin particles, and a supranuclear clear 

 zone or light area in the cytoplasm corre- 

 sponding to the position of the Golgi zone 

 (Figs. 6.8, 6.9, and 6.14). In osmium prep- 

 arations, the Golgi apparatus appears as 



Fics. (3.8 Axn 6.9. Rat ventral prostate from a normal adult male. X 5UU and lOUU. Boinn- 

 hematoxylin preparations. (From C. R. Moore, D. Price and T. F. Gallagher, Am. J. Anat., 

 45, 71-107, 1930.) 



