MAMMALIAN OVARY 



471 



-i:-* :^-"!r- 





t:^-^-!.. 



4" 



jP^-'-^i' 



Fig. 7.12. Immature hypoi)liyspftomized rat alter 3 days treatment with Armour's IC8H. 

 The interstitium is restored and is mildly hyperplastic. Nearly all of the vesicular follicles 

 are atretic. The theca blends into the interstitimn. Two of the oocytes contain maturation 

 spindles. (Courtesy of Dr. R. M. Melampy.) 



theca interna of atretic follicles. He pre- 

 sented no evidence for the production of es- 

 trogen by the latter tissue, but expressed the 

 opinion that Claesson and Hillarp (1947b) 

 had done so. Under the assumption that es- 

 trogen rather than androgen is produced by 

 o^'aries of untreated rats during the early 

 juvenile period (10th to 18th day), he in- 

 terpreted the presence of histochemically re- 

 active materials in the iirimary interstitial 

 tissue as an indicator of estrogenic activity. 

 To Huseby, Samuels and Helmreich (1954), 

 the steroid-3/?-ol dehydrogenase activity in 

 interstitial cell tumors having androgenic 

 activity, suggested a relationship between 

 the presence of this enzyme and the produc- 

 tion of the androgen. 



B. AMOUNTS OF HORMONE PRODUCED 



Dependable estimates of the rate of es- 

 trogen and progesterone production would 

 provide investigators of reproductive physi- 

 ology with interesting and valuable infor- 

 mation. It must be recognized, however, that 

 there are many pitfalls and outright difficid- 



ties; consetiuently the estimates which have 

 been made must be regarded as tentative. 

 Furthermore, they are of limited value. The 

 amounts produced probably deviate greatly 

 from the quantities which are effective in 

 meeting the threshold requirements of the 

 tissues the ovarian hormones stimulate. This 

 latter information would make the greater 

 contribution to an understanding of the 

 functioning of these substances in the regu- 

 lation of rei^roductive processes. Most efforts 

 to estimate the rate of secretion of estrogen 

 have involved measurements of the amount 

 of hormone given subcutaneously that will 

 restore normal structure or function in ovari- 

 ectomized animals. As Corner (1940) em- 

 phasized, estimates obtained in this manner 

 are based on the assumption that a hormone 

 injected once daily in an oil solution is uti- 

 lized by the body as efficiently as a hormone 

 produced by an animal's own ovaries. Gill- 

 man (1942), Barahona, Bruzzone and Lip- 

 .schutz (1950), and Zondek (1954) are 

 among the many who have directed atten- 

 tion to the fact that the amount of an esiro- 



