VII. EFFECTS OF DEFICIENCY 521 



but this is secondary to early termination of pregnancy.'" Otherwise, most 

 investigators have failed to find any morphologic changes in the rat ovary, 

 except in animals rather advanced in age where senility changes tend to 

 confuse the picture. On the other hand, well-controlled observations on 

 mice" indicate that lack of vitamin E results in fewer primordial o\'a, less 

 interfollicular tissue, smaller but more numerous corpora lutea, and ab- 

 sence of neutral fat but marked increase in insoluble lipid complexes. Effects 

 on the ovary of other species have not been reported. Histologic changes 

 occurring in the uterus in vitamin E deficiency are discussed in a later sec- 

 tion (p. 531). 



c. Other Endocrines 



There is no convincing evidence that vitamin E deficiency exerts any 

 direct effect upon the function or structure of the anterior pituitary. There 

 exists a rather extensive and controversial literature, much of which has 

 been reviewed elsewhere.'""' ■*^' ■*' Alterations observed in the basophiles of 

 the anterior pituitary of male rats, resembling those following castration, 

 are regarded as secondary to the testicular degeneration;^-''^ they are ab- 

 sent in deficient female rats.'*^ The pituitary of male chicks, showing testi- 

 cular injury of vitamin E deficiency, shows changes similar to those of the 

 male rat.'"'' Thyroid hypoplasia reported in low-E rats, and attributed to 

 disturbed anterior pituitary functions,^^ seem explicable on the basis of 

 a relative inadequacy of dietary iodine.^^ 



The adrenal cortex undergoes no significant change as a result of vitamin 

 E deficiency other than an accumulation of acid-fast pigment which closely 

 resembles the "wear and tear" pigment normally present to a limited extent 

 in the zona reticularis and may reflect diminished abilitj' of the low-E ani- 

 mal to effectively stabilize cortical lipids of certain types. The accumulation 

 of acid-fast pigment is especially marked in the mouse^^' ^^ and occurs to a 

 limited extent in the rat and hamster.^i 



40 B. H. Ershoff, Anat. Record 87, 297 (1943). 



"Z. Menschik, Quart. J. Exptl. Physiol. 34, 97 (1948). 



" K. E. Mason, in Se.x and Internal Secretions, Chapter 22. Williams & Wilkins 



Co., Baltimore, 1939. 

 4' K. E. Mason, Vitamins and Hormones 2, 107 (1944). 

 " A. A. Koneff, Anat. Record 74, 383 (1939). 

 " C. Biddulph and R. K. Meyer, Ain. J. Physiol. 132, 259 (1941); Endocrinology 30, 



551 (1942). 

 *' P. A. T. Tibirica, J. Dutra de Olivera, and A. Aguiar, Hospital 0. {Rio de Janeiro) 



26, 585 (1944). 

 " S. I. Stein, J. Nutrition 9, 611 (1935). 

 «M. M. O. Barrie, Lancet 233, 251 (1937). 

 "C. E. Tobin and J. P. Birnbaum, Arch. Pathol. 44, 269 0947). 



