MAMMALIAN OVARY 



469 



Kid, 7,10. l'(isto\nl.-,l,,iy 

 stigma is evident. Note tli 

 of Dr. J. T. Bradburv.) 



epitlielioid natiii 



of the hypertiopliied mterstitiuin. (Courtesy 



(Fig. 7.11). Grossly the ovary in the anes- 

 trous rabbit is translucent whereas the es- 

 trous ovaries and the ovaries during preg- 

 nancy have a chalky white opacity due to 

 the development of the interestitium. After 

 hypophysectomy the interstitial cells of the 

 rat ovary exhibit a deficiency condition and 

 the nuclear appearance has suggested the 

 name "wheel cells." If pituitary ICSH is 

 administered, the deficiency cells are re- 

 stored to normal (Fig. 7.12). Hyperplastic 

 ovarian interstitium in older women has 

 been considered a probable source of estro- 

 gen in some cases and of androgen in others. 

 The stimulation of interstitium by in- 

 jected gonadotrophins may be associated 

 with the formation of estrogens and/or an- 

 drogens (Bradbury and Gaensbauer, 1939; 

 Marx and Bradbury, 1940). Some rats dis- 

 played a permanent estrus; others, during 

 a period of androgenic function, were mas- 

 culinized. During this period, the theca and 

 interstitium were not luteinized in many 

 cases and it was concluded from the re- 

 sponses of accessory organs that these small 



immature cells had secreted male hormone 

 and perhaps female hormone, too. In rats 

 with fully luteinized theca and interstitium 

 and the pronounced estrous symptoms, it 

 was considered that the androgenic effect 

 was no longer apparent. Information ob- 

 tained recently, however, suggests that the 

 permanent estrus, when it was shown, may 

 have been a consequence of an androgenic 

 effect. Cystic follicles which might have 

 stimulated a permanent estrus had a vagina 

 been present, were found in many adult 

 guinea pigs which had received androgen 

 prenatally (Tedford and Young, 1960). 



Without necessarily excluding the possi- 

 bility that the heterotypical hormone is also 

 jiroduced, many articles contain suggestions 

 that interstitial tissue has specific estrogenic 

 or androgenic activity. There is the report 

 that an ovarian interstitial-cell tumor was 

 producing estrogens (Plate, 1957). The ob- 

 servation that estrogen continues to be se- 

 creted by ovaries in which the follicles have 

 been destroyed by x-rays was reported by 

 Parkes (1926b, i927a,^b), Brambell and 



