THE »EARLY-ANDROGEN« SYNDROME; ITS DEVELOPMENT AND THE RESPONSE TO HEMI-SPAYING

Abstract

The "early-androgen" syndrome in the rat - i.e. anovulatory ovaries in adult females after a single injection of testosterone propionate (TP) within a week of birth - may not become apparent until some time after the attainment of sexual maturity. Large doses (50 or 100 [mu]g) of TP were effective earlier than lower doses (5 or 10 [mu]g). Rats which received 5 ug TP were ovulating at 10 weeks of age, mated but were infertile at 13 weeks of age, and were anovulatory at 21 weeks. In rats between 10 and 13 weeks old there was a marked fall in the number of corpora lutea in the ovaries of animals which had been given 5 ug TP. Hemi-spaying was followed by compensatory growth of the remaining ovary which consisted of corpora lutea in ovulating, and of follicles in anovulatory rats; little or no compensatory weight increase occurred in animals which seemed to be in the transition stage from the ovulatory to the anovulatory condition.