ON RESULTS OF REMOVAL AND TRANSPLANTATION OF OVARIES. 595 



Limon (1904) performed four homoplastic transplantations of rabbits' ovaries, which 

 were crafted on the peritoneum or between the muscles of the abdominal wall. The 

 follicles all showed a tendency to degenerate ; but the interstitial cells, on the other hand, 

 after a short period of starvation subsequently recuperated, and acquired a condition of 

 perfect vitality. There is, however, no mention of the Graafian follicles having done 

 likewise, or of corpora lutea having been formed. Figures are given illustrating the 

 recuperation of the interstitial tissue. 



Basso (1905) has performed homoplastic grafts, and also heteroplastic, in rabbits and 

 o-uinea-pigs. The ovaries were usually grafted on to the mesometrium. Some success 

 was attained, especially in the homoplastic implantations. No figures, however, are 

 given, hi the heteroplastic implantations the stroma is described as having become 

 necrotic Ovaries were also transplanted to males, and, since these were not less success- 

 ful, the author concludes that presence of the testis did not exert any special inhibitory 

 influence. 



Bond (1906), in a recent paper on " Some Points on Uterine and Ovarian Physiology 

 and Pathology in Rabbits," has referred to a few experiments in which he transplanted 

 ovaries to abnormal positions in the same individuals (homoplastic grafts). Only one 

 experiment appears to have been at all successful. In this case " a somewhat modified 

 and degenerate corpus luteum of pregnancy " was found, after the ovary had been 

 grafted for about a month, in a pregnant animal whose other ovary had been allowed to 

 remain in situ. 



Our transplantation experiments have been performed on rats. 



I. Homoplastic Implantation. 



The ovaries of twenty rats were excised and transplanted to another situation within 

 the peritoneal cavity, being attached by means of a catgut stitch to the parietal 

 peritoneum. Of these cases, the following eight may be described as entirely 

 successful : — 



1. The grafted ovaries (fig. 1) were allowed to remain for two and a quarter months. 

 When examined, they were found to contain follicles and ova. The follicular epithelium 

 was normal, and groups of interstitial cells were visible in the stroma. The germinal 

 epithelium had disappeared from the outside of the ovary. Several large cysts, lined 

 with squamous epithelium, were also present. The ovaries were examined in the month 

 of January, i.e. before the breeding season of the rat. 



2. The graft was here left for two months, and the rat was killed in the beginning of 

 the breeding season. The graft contains follicles, and a large number of corpora lutea 

 of apparently different ages. 



3. This graft (fig. 2) was left for two months, and showed, on microscopic examination, 

 follicles, ova, and corpora lutea. The rat was killed during the breeding season. 



4. The graft was left for two and a half months, and exhibited follicles, corpora lutea, 

 and a cyst. Killed during breeding season. 



