482 



PHYSIOLOGY OF GONADS 



CHOLESTEROL 



CORTISOL 



CHOLESTEROL 



GONAD 



\ 



ANDROGEN 

 ESTROGEN 



PREGNENOLONE 



; 



PREGNENOLONE 



ADHeNAL 



^ 



\ 



17-HYDROXY- 

 PROGESTERONE 



PROGESTERONE 



PROGESTERONE 



17-HYDROXY- 

 PR06ESTER0NE 



Fit. 7 14. Tieatnieiit witli (oiti>one (or other glucocorticoid) reduces ACTH production 

 and adrenal hormone .synthesis subside-^. This permits the normal pituitaiy-gonadal inter- 

 actions to be established. (Courtesy of Dr. J. T. Bradbury.) 



A\'ilkins, Crigler, Silverman, Gardner and 

 Migeon (1952), and Bradbury (1958). 

 Milder categories of what is believed to be 

 adrenal cortical hyperplasia have also been 

 described and are responsive to treatment 

 with cortisone. They are characterized by 

 amenorrhea or oligomenorrhea, hirsutism, 

 slightly elevated 17-ketosteroid excretion 

 values, and difficulty in becoming pregnant 

 (Jones, Howard and Langford, 1953; Jef- 

 feries, AYeir, Weir and Prouty, 1958; Jef- 

 feries, I960). Indications arc that these 

 abnormalities, like those typical of the 

 adrenogenital syndrome, affect the ovary, 

 not directly, but rather by the creation of 

 a pituitary gonadotrophic-ovarian imbal- 

 ance. 



Some evidence exists for more direct re- 

 lationships between the adrenal cortex and 

 the ovary. These may involve actions of 

 ovai-iaii liormones on the adrenal, and ac- 



tions of adrenal cortical hormones on the 

 ovary. In general, however, the relation- 

 ships are tenuous or at least not sharply 

 defined. It is evident from the review by 

 Parkes (1945) that sexual dimorphism in 

 adrenal cortical structure has been demon- 

 strated in a number of species, notably the 

 mouse and rat and possibly the guinea pig, 

 but it has not been detected in a number 

 of other species. The effects of gonadcctomy 

 and the injection of hormones, particularly 

 estrogens, into gonadectomized animals are 

 less clear, but they are suggestive of an ac- 

 tion on the adrenal, however ill defined and 

 variable it seems to be. A seasonal hyper- 

 trophy of the adrenal has been reported 

 as occurring in the mole, Talpa europaea, 

 (Kolmer, 1918) and the ground squirrel, 

 Citellus tridecemlineatus (Mitchill), (Fos- 

 ter, 1934), as has enlargement at the time 

 of estrus in the rat (Andersen and Kennedy, 



