Anatomy, Embryology, Compara- 

 tive Anatomy, and Histology of 

 the Endocrin Components of 

 the Ovaries 



E. V. OOWDEY 



NEW YORK 



Anatomy 

 The Interstitial Cells of the Ovary 



The Interstitial Cells of the Ovary. The so-called interstitial cells of 

 the ovary were first discovered by Pfliiger in 1863 and have since been 

 the subject of many controversies. Their occurrence in the human ovary 

 has been conclusively demonstrated by Pinto ('05), Seitz ('06), Cesa- 

 Bianchi ('07), and other workers, though Frankel ('05), Aime ('07), 

 and Anna Schaeffer ('11) maintain that they are absent. Aime ('07) 

 failed to confirm Pfliiger's description of interstitial cells in the dog's 

 ovary, and it remained for Popoff ('11) to redescribe them in detail. 

 There is also some difference of opinion with regard to their presence in 

 adult cats, because Anna Schaeffer ('11) was unable to confirm the work 

 of Lowenthal ('88), Frankel ('05), Aime ('07), and others. Many 

 cases of conflicting opinion might be cited; these are merely examples. 

 All the uncertainty is due to the fact that the distinctive properties of 

 the ovarian interstitial cells, insofar as they possess any, have never 

 been carefully observed and tabulated. 



We must admit that it is often difficult to identify them in ordinary 

 preparations, particularly when only a few are to be seen, unless one is 

 quite familiar with the tissue. They usually tend to occur in small 

 clumps, which are scattered throughout the stroma (Fig. 1). Thev 

 possess large spherical nuclei, often excentrically placed, and a fair amount 

 of light staining cytoplasm, which, in preparations fixed in formalin and 

 stained with hematoxylin and eosin, is generally vacuolated on account 



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