ACCESSORY MAMMALIAN REPRODUCTIVE GLANDS 



421 



Fig. 6.44. Mouse seminal vesicle, normal male. Photomicrofirapli - 250. Carnoy's fixative, 

 stained by the periodic acid-Schiff method, counterstained with hematoxylin. Note the in- 

 tense PAS-reaction in the reticulum in the lamina propria and surrounding the smooth muscle 

 fibers; secretory material in the lumen is moderately reactive. (From H. W. Deane and K. R. 

 Porter, unpublished.) 



ctncl slowly and somewhat incompletely in 

 guinea pigs (Sayles, 1939, 1942) and ham- 

 sters (Ortiz, 1953). It should be noted that 

 in adult castrated guinea pigs the ability 

 to secrete fructose and citric acid is appar- 

 ently lost in cells which show only partial 

 retrogression histologically (Ortiz, Price, 

 Williams-Ashman and Banks, 1956). 



Another type of variation in responsive- 

 ness is demonstrated when weights of sem- 

 inal vesicles and ventral prostrates in im- 

 mature castrated rats are used as end 

 points for the potency of various C19 ster- 

 oids (Dorfman and Shipley, 1956 L When 

 lower dosages of testosterone and 17a- 

 niethyl-A^-androstene-3^ , 17/?-diol are given 

 the ventral prostate is more responsive than 

 the seminal vesicles, but at high dosage lev- 

 els the percentage increase in seminal vesi- 



cle weight equals or exceeds that of the pros- 

 tate. Three other C19 steroids are far more 

 effective on the ventral prostate than on 

 seminal vesicles. 



The female prostate in adult rats re- 

 sponds histologically and gravimetrically 

 to a number of C19 steroids (Korenchevsky, 

 1937). These findings have been confirmed 

 and extended by Huggins and Jensen 



(1954) and Huggins, Parsons and Jensen 



(1955) in hypophysectomized female rats. 

 These workers examined the relation of mo- 

 lecular structure to the growth-promoting 

 ability of the steroids. 



Atrophy in male accessory glands of rats 

 and mice has been reported under condi- 

 tions of inanition and vitamin deficiency. 

 These results are not usually attributable 

 to reduction in responsiveness of the glands 



