Action of Corpus Luteum upon Mammary Glands. 47 



change, perhaps in the permeability of the muscle, or in the 

 blood supply, permits the rapid drainage of products of hydrolysis 

 to take place, thus gradually reducing the tissues in amount. In 

 some cases, phagocytosis, stimulated by a precedent lesion, assists 

 in the process of transfer of materials. In involution of the mam- 

 malian uterus, there may be a different factor at work, for it has 

 been shown by Slemons 1 that a rise of total nitrogen in the 

 maternal urine occurs after birth and that this is likewise true if 

 the fetus is removed by Caesarian section, pointing to a relation 

 to the involution of the uterus and likewise to acceleration of 

 proteoclastic enzymes, for uteri are notoriously slow in autolyzing. 

 Langstem and Neubauer and Ferroni obtained acceleration in 

 uterine involution. The point is at present being studied in this 

 laboratory. 



29 (961) 



Note on action of corpus luteum upon the mammary glands. 



By Isaac Ott, M.D., and John C. Scott, M.D. 



[From the Physiological Department, Medico-Chirurgical College of 



Philadelphia.] 



Our experiments were made upon virgin rabbits. The corpora 

 lutea of the cow were rubbed up with sterilized water and injected 

 hypodermically every three days for a month. The rabbits were 

 of the same size. Care was taken that no sepsis ensued by the 

 injection. It was found that the mammary glands enlarged to a 

 considerable extent, more than twice the original size. They also 

 contained milk. Upon their removal after death and hardened, 

 sections were made and stained. Under the microscope there was 

 about a ten-fold increase in the number of glands compared with 

 the occasional ones in the virgin rabbit. 



1 Bull. Johns Hopkins Hosp., 25, p. 195, 1914. 



