VII. EFFECTS OF DEFICIENCY 519 



l>y vitamin E deficiency.-''" The testis of \hv nionsc, on the other hand, is 

 remarkably resistant; most investigators have observed no injury after 

 deficiency periods up to 14 months;-^"-'' however, Menschik ei alP report 

 marked atrophy of the germinal epithelium after about 18 months. There 

 is no testis injury in Florida cotton rats depleted to the point of showing 

 marked muscular dystrophy .2' In lower forms, testis degeneration has been 

 reported only in cockerels'"- '"" and in the guppy fish.'^ The varied response 

 of the testis of different animals to vitamin E deficiency represents an inter- 

 esting but little-understood phenomenon. 



3. Female Reproductive System 



a. Fetal Resorption 



Intrauterine death and resorption of the fetus in well-nourished rats 

 represents the phenomenon primarily responsible for the discovery of vita- 

 min E and the basis for its subsequent bioassay and identification. The 

 histopathology is presented in the classic monograph of Evans and Burr^^ 

 and the later studies of Urner.'^ w\ reproductive events are normal up to 

 the time of implantation, which occurs at about the 7th day after insemi- 

 nation in the rat. Several days later there is retardation of fetal develop- 

 ment, diminished hemopoietic activity in yolk sac and liver, and rarefac- 

 tion of the allantois and mesenchymal tissues of the embryo proper. Either 

 the allantoic placenta fails to properly differentiate and invade the maternal 

 decidua, or else the latter offers unusual resistance to this invasion. In 

 either case, impaired vascular relationships between fetal and maternal com- 

 ponents of the placenta appear to be responsible for asphyxia, starvation 

 and death of the fetus. This is followed by rapid necrosis and resorption of 

 the fetus, more or less persistent but not severe uterine bleeding, and grad- 

 ual regression of the placenta until little more than a blood clot remains 



^J'' F. B. Adamstone, J. L. Krider, and M. F. James, Ann. N. Y. Acad. Set. 52, 260 



(1949). 

 " W. L. Bryan and K. E. Mason, Am. J. Physiol. 131, 263 (1940). 

 2«M. Goettsch, /. Nuintion 23, 513 (1942). 

 2- A. M. Pappenheimer, Am. J. Pathol. 18, 169 (1942). 



28 C. E. Tobin, Arch. Pathol. 50, 385 (1950). 



29 Z. Menschik, M. K. Munk, T. Rogalski, O. R3masze\vski , and T. J. Szczesniak, 

 Ann. X. y. Acad. Sci. 52, 94 (1949). 



30 F. B. Adamstone and L. E. Card, J. Morphol. 56, .325; .3.39 (1934); Anat. Record 

 84, 499 (1942). 



3»* E. H. Herrick, I. M. Kide, and M. K. Snow, Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med. 79, 441 



(1952). 

 ^1 H. W. Cumings, Jr., Dissertation, University of Illinois (1940); Anat. Record 8i 



Proc. 499 (1942). 

 3= J. A. Urner, Anat. Record 50, 175 (1931). 



