Effect of Castration in Rabbits. 65 



39 (856) 



Effect of castration on weight of pituitary in rabbits. 



By A. E. Livingston. 



[From the Physiological Laboratory, Medical College, Cornell 

 University, Ithaca, N. Y.] 



The object of the present investigation was to observe the 

 effect of castration, in male and female rabbits, on the weight of 

 the hypophysis. Some workers have recorded an increase in the 

 weight of this gland after removal of the generative organs, e. g., 

 Fichera 1 ('05) found this to be the case in guinea pigs, rabbits, 

 domestic fowls, cattle, and buffaloes, and Kon 2 ('08) has observed 

 the same results in man. Marrassini 3 and Luciani ('11), on the 

 other hand, also using guinea pigs, rabbits, sheep, cattle, and 

 domestic fowls deny that this is the case. The question therefore 

 at the present time appears to be an open one. 



My observations have been made on two series of rabbits. The 

 first series consisted of fifty animals including about an equal 

 number of males and females. The sexes were separated and kept 

 in adjoining pens, in the open air, under similar conditions ns 

 regards feeding and attendance. From approximately one half 

 of each group the sexual glands were removed, the other half being 

 kept as controls. The body weights were recorded weekly, on the 

 forenoon of the same day (Saturday), before the animals had 

 been fed. 



They were killed at intervals varying from 26 to 208 days 

 after castration, the body weight, minus the gastro-intestinal 

 contents (the reduced body weight), was determined and the 

 pituitary was removed with special care and weighed at once on a 

 chemical balance. It was found that for the males the average 

 weight of the pituitary, in milligrams per kilo of reduced body 

 weight, was 11.57 m g- for the castrated and 10.23 m g- f° r the 

 controls ; while among the females the average pituitary weight, 



1 Fichera, Archives ital. de Biol., Vol. 43, p. 405, 1905. 



2 Kon, Ziegler's Beitrdge zur pathologischen Analomie und zur allgemeinen Pathol- 

 ogic Vol. 64, p. 233. 



3 Marrassini et Luciani, Archives ital. de Biol., Vol. 56, p. 395, 191 1. 



