ACCESSORY MAMMALIAN REPRODUCTIVE GLANDS 



433 



from both young and older mice. When 

 estrone and carcinogen were added simul- 

 taneously to cultures of young glands, squa- 

 mous metaplasia was increased; with older 

 glands, hyperplasia was inhibited and stro- 

 mal increase occurred. The relation of vita- 

 min A to the response of prostates to meth- 

 ylcholanthrene was studied (Lasnitzki. 

 1955b). Vitamin A added to the medium 

 caused an increase in secretion and deposi- 

 tion of PAS-positive material in the secre- 

 tory cells but did not influence growth or 

 development; the vitamin added simultane- 

 ously with methylcholanthrene did not in- 

 fluence hyperplasia, but did prevent keratin 

 formation and degenerative changes in the 

 secretory epithelium; excess vitamin A fol- 

 lowing the carcinogen prevented formation 

 of keratin and decreased hyperplasia. 



Summary. Treatment of rat and mouse ac- 

 cessory glands with benzpyrene or methyl- 

 cholanthrene has induced precancerous and 

 cancerous changes which led to the develop- 

 ment of adenocarcinomas, squamous cell 

 carcinomas, and sarcomas. The first type of 

 tumor has been induced in large numbers 

 only in mice and by the homograft method. 



The evidence suggests that, in mice, 

 growth of adenocarcinomas is androgen- 

 dependent, but squamous cell carcinomas 

 are little affected by androgen loss or estro- 

 gen treatment. The incidence of tumors has 

 been increased by simultaneous administra- 

 tion of estrogen and carcinogen but reduced 

 by the administration of androgen with car- 

 cinogen. In rats, it has been affirmed and 

 denied that incidence and growth of squa- 

 mous cell carcinomas are reduced in intact 

 males ; estrogen has not affected tumor inci- 

 dence. Species and strain differences in re- 

 sponse are marked. 



F. EFFECTS OF NONSTEROID HORMONES 



There is e-\'idence that hormones from the 

 anterior pituitary may directly affect the 

 weight and histologic structure of accessory 

 glands, or act synergistically with androgen. 

 However, the findings have been somewhat 

 conflicting. Dosage level, age, and strain of 

 rats have varied, and questions have been 

 raised with respect to the purity of the hor- 

 mone preparations. 



Attention was focused on the pituitary in 

 relation to accessory glands when Huggins 

 and Russell (1946) observed that prostatic 



atrophy is more marked in the hypophysec- 

 tomized than in the castrated dog. Van der 

 Laan (1953) found the ventral prostates 

 of hypophysectomized-castrated immature 

 rats less responsive to testosterone pro- 

 pionate than the glands of castrates; a crude 

 extract of beef pituitaries restored respon- 

 siveness in hypophysectomized-castrates. 

 Prostates of young adult hypophysecto- 

 mized-castrated Sprague-Dawley rats were 

 also less responsive (total weight of dorsal 

 and ventral prostates) to testosterone pro- 

 pionate than those of castrates (Grayhack, 

 Bunce, Kearns and Scott, 1955). Paesi, de 

 Jongh and Hoogstra (1956) administered 

 pituitary extracts simultaneously with a 

 low dose of testosterone propionate to hy- 

 pophysectomized-castrated rats and re- 

 ported a slightly greater ventral prostate 

 weight than with the androgen alone. 



To identify the hormones of the anterior 

 pituitary that are capable of affecting the 

 accessory glands or influencing their respon- 

 siveness to androgen, the following hormone 

 preparations have been injected alone and 

 in various combinations into hypophysec- 

 tomized-castrated rats: prolactin (luteo- 

 trophin; LTH), growth hormone (so- 

 matotrophin; STH), adrenocorticotrophin 

 ( ACTH ) , interstitial cell-stimulating hor- 

 mone (luteinizing hormone; ICSH; LH), 

 follicle stimulating hormone (FSHl. In ad- 

 dition, chorionic gonadotrophin and thy- 

 roxine have been administered. Of these 

 hormones, only prolactin and growth hor- 

 mone have been shown to act directly on 

 accessory glands (for comprehensive data 

 on negative and positive results of these 

 hormones see Grayhack, Bunce, Kearns and 

 Scott, 1955; Lostroh and Li, 1956, 1957 ». 

 The degree to which contamination with 

 prolactin or growth hormone might influ- 

 ence the assay of ICSH preparations by the 

 ventral prostate test has been examined by 

 Lostroh, Squire and Li (1958). 



1. Prolactin {LTH) 



When Pasqualini (1953) treated castrated 

 adult rats with testosterone propionate fol- 

 lowed by administration of a lower dose of 

 androgen plus LTH, the amount of secretion 

 in the seminal vesicles was greater than with 

 androgen alone. Prostate weights were in- 

 creased slightly by LTH with androgen. 

 Van der Laan (1953) reported that in adult 



