ACCESSORY MAMMALIAN REPRODUCTIVE GLANDS 



423 



eloctron-denye material is deposited in tlie 

 Golgi region of epithelial cells and these 

 bodies are said to resemble structures found 

 in hyperplastic prostates in man. 



2. Adrenal Androgens 



A large Ixxly of evidence jioints to effects 

 of hormones from the adrenal cortex on the 

 accessory reproductive glands of male rats 

 and mice and on prostate glands of female 

 rats. The significance of this relationshi}) 

 is unknown and the effects are slight in 

 many cases. Reviews by Parkes (1945), 

 Ponse (1950), Courrier, Baclesse and Ma- 

 rois (1953), Moore (1953) and Delost 

 (1956) deal extensively with the subject. In 

 man, a relationship between pathologies of 

 the adrenal cortex and virilism is well rec- 

 ognized (Dorfman and Shipley, 1956). 



The marked development of the ventral 

 prostate in young castrated rats (Price, 

 1936) was attributed by Howard (1938) to 

 the action of androgen from the adrenal 

 cortex. The same explanation was sug- 

 gested for the extensive development of the 

 seminal vesicles and prostate in young cas- 

 trated mice (Howard, 1939). The ventral 

 prostate does not develop in immature cas- 

 trated-adrenalectoraized rats according to 

 Burrill and Greene (1939a) and Howard 

 (1941), but Gersh and Grollman (1939) did 

 not confirm these findings. The impairment 

 of prostate and seminal vesicle develop- 

 ment in young castrated-adrenalectomized 

 mice (Howard, 1946) was considered to be 

 the result of poor physical condition rather 

 than loss of adrenal androgen. Gonadec- 

 tomy in young male mice of an inbred 

 strain (Woolley and Little, 1945a. b) pro- 

 duced adrenal cortical carcinoma correlated 

 w^ith strong stimulation of the prostate and 

 seminal vesicles. Spiegel (1939) castrated 

 young guinea pigs and found the develop- 

 ment of adrenal-cortical tumors and evi- 

 dence of stimulation of prostates and sem- 

 inal vesicles. 



In the field vole {Microtus arvalis P.), 

 Delost (1956) observed extensive develop- 

 ment of the ventral prostate in young cas- 

 trated males. Gonadectomy of adult males 

 during the breeding season results in atro- 

 phy of seminal vesicles, and dorsal and lat- 

 eral prostate, whereas the ventral prostate 



shows an intense secretory activity by one 

 month after testis removal. Adrenalectomy 

 of castrates produces complete involution 

 of the ventral prostate. Outside the breed- 

 ing period, there is atrophy of all accessory 

 glands except the ventral prostate which 

 exhibits strong activation that can be pre- 

 vented by adrenalectomy. 



The prostate gland of young female rats 

 undergoes development and differentiation, 

 and resembles the male ventral prostate 

 with which it is homologous (Price, 1939; 

 Mahoney, 1940). Development still occurs 

 following ovariectomy (Burrill and Greene, 

 1939b; Price, 1942) or adrenalectomy (Bur- 

 rill and Greene, 1941), but not in ovariec- 

 tomized-adrenalectomized females. A com- 

 parison of the responsiveness of female and 

 male prostates indicated that the male gland 

 is more sensiti\'e to adrenal androgens 

 (Price, 1942). 



Autotransplants of adrenals into one 

 seminal vesicle of adult castrated rats pro- 

 duced slight local stimulation of the gland 

 and also androgenic effects on the other 

 seminal vesicle and on the ventral prostate 

 (Katsh, Gordon and Charipper, 1948). But 

 androgenic action was local and barely 

 discernible in somewhat similar experi- 

 ments (.lost and Geloso, 1954). Price and 

 Ingle (1957) autotransplanted adrenals into 

 seminal vesicles and ventral prostates of 

 adult castrates and observed definite but 

 local stimulation of seminal vesicles, coag- 

 ulating glands, and ventral prostates. Neg- 

 ative results of adrenal transplants in sem- 

 inal vesicles of nonadrenalectomized rats 

 were reported by Moore (1953). Takewaki 

 (1954) failed to detect any androgenic ef- 

 fect of autotransplants of adrenals placed 

 subcutaneously in contact with seminal ves- 

 icle grafts in castrated males. 



The finding that treatment of young cas- 

 trated male rats with adrenocorticotrophin 

 caused stimulation of the ventral prostate 

 (Davidson and Moon, 1936) has been con- 

 firmed by Deanesly (1960) who observed, 

 in addition, a slight stimulation of the sem- 

 inal vesicles. Nelson (1941) also found an- 

 drogenic effects on accessory glands fol- 

 lowing ACTH treatment but Moore (1953), 

 van der Laan (1953), and Takewaki (1954) 

 obtained negative results. In hypophysec- 



