SEX STUDIES VII. CYSTIC DEGENERATIOX OF THE OVARIES. y^ 



cystic degeneration (cf. figs. 4A and 4B). The whole ovary 

 in each case was a mass of cyslts of varying sizes. The walls 

 of the cysts were made up of fibrous connective tissue and were 

 very tough and resistant to rupture. The uterus and tubes 

 were very small, ipractically in infantile condition. The ovaries, 

 slit cipen to show the cysts, together with the ovaries O'f a nor- 

 mal oow aire shown in ifigs. 3 and 4. The cystic ovaries showed 

 no oorpora lutea recognizable as such. The case is clearly one 

 of ^multiple cystic degeneration of the ovaries. 



Histological and Cytological Data. 



At the time of autopsy the ovaries of this cow were split in 

 halves longitudinally and im'mediately fixed in McClendon's' 

 fluid. At the same time thie ovaries from a normal cow of about 

 the same age as the one here under discussion were removed 

 and fixed in the same fluiid for comparison. Subsequently this 

 material was sectioned by Dr. Maynie R. Curtis and stained 

 in various ways. 



The outcome of the study of this 'material is interesting from 

 several standpoints, but particularly so in relation to the prob- 

 lem O'f secondary sex dharacters and the gonads. For it ap- 

 pears, after very careful study of the 'material, that histo- 

 logically and cytologically these cystic ovaries differ from the 

 normal cozv ovary in hut one essential respect, namely that they 

 have not corpora lutea. The absence of lutear substance arises 

 from the fact that ovulation does not occur. Tbe oocytes start 

 their development in a perfectly normal way in the cystic ovar}- 

 (figs. 5, 9, and 10). But after the fdllicle has reached the size 

 at which it normally breaks and discharges its ovum, it still 

 keeps on growing in the cystic ovary. Either through some 

 physiological abnormal it}-^ in the follicular epithelium which 

 affects its secretory powers, or through some change in the 

 permeability of the follicular wallls, it results that the liquor 

 folliculi keeps increasing in amount and the follicle does not 

 rupture. Since no ovum is discharged, no corpus luteum can be 



^McClendon, J. F. Preparation of Material for Histology and Embry- 

 ology, etc. Anat. Rec. Vol. VII, pp. 51-61, 1912. 



