OVARIAN TRANSPLANTATION 47 



oophorectomy followed by transplantation. Limon 1 Ovarian 

 noticed that the follicles in the graft tend to degenerate 



after a time, while the interstitial cells remain unaffected. uterus after 



oopnoroc- 



I found, as Marshall and Jolly 2 had previously observed, tomy. 

 that the follicles first become cystic (fig. 22) and then 

 degenerate ; that is to say, they ripen, but, if completely 

 buried cannot expel the contents, and therefore become 

 cystic and retrogress. 



I also noted a fact of considerable importance : importance 

 namely, that in the rabbit if only the central portion rstltlal 



of the ovary, which contains no follicles, be implanted ovarian 

 (fig. 23), the interstitial cells of which the graft is com- 

 posed can alone maintain the integrity of the uterus. 



Halsted 3 has stated that grafts of the organs of 

 internal secretion ' grow ' better when 'a condition of 

 insufficiency exists in regard to the particular secretion. 

 There was no evidence of this in my experiments with 

 the ovaries of rabbits ; for the grafts ' grew ' as well 

 when one ovary was left in situ as when both were 

 removed. 



It is probable, then, that ovarian transplantations 

 in general, and transplantations of the interstitial cells 

 in particular, are capable of keeping normal the uterus, 

 the mammae, the distant hormonopoietic organs, and 

 the general metabolism in the female animal. And, 

 since the isolated interstitial cells are effective in this 

 respect, it is probable that the follicular secretion has 

 no function beyond nourishing the ovum and influencing 

 the dehiscence of the follicle at any rate in the rabbit. 



In my experience ovarian transplantation in women, Ovarian 

 which must be autoplastic, is not so certainly successful j^^ n m tte 

 as it is in the lower animals. This may be due to the subject. 

 fact that normally in the human subject the interstitial 

 tissue is absent or poorly developed; indeed, it is in 



1 Limon, M., Journ. Physiol. et Pharmacop. Gen., 1905, vol. vi, 

 p. 864. 



2 Marshall, F. H. A., and W. A. Jolly, Quart. Journ. Exper. Physiol, 

 1908, vol. i, p. 115. 



3 Halsted, W. S., Journ. Exper. Med., 1909, vol. xi, p. 175. 



