EFFECTS OF ACTH ON PREGNANT MONKEYS AND THEIR OFFSPRING

Abstract

Seven pregnant rhesus monkeys were treated with 20 mg daily doses of ACTH during the last 17-67 days of their gestation periods, one non-pregnant female was similarly treated for 133 days, and 10 untreated pregnant monkeys served as controls. This treatment produced a marked reduction in circulating eosinophils. There were no effects on the numbers or distribution of other formed elements, or on the concentrations of Na and K in serum, nor on the levels of glucose in whole blood. Three of the preg -nant treated monkeys aborted. The others pursued an uneventful course and gave birth to apparently healthy offspring. All were killed within 24 hours after parturition. Maternal spleens and lymph nodes showed characteristic suppression of activity in the nodules. These same organs in the babies were unaffected but thymus glands showed cortical atrophy. There were no significant changes in maternal or fetal pituitaries, pancreas, bone marrow, thyroids, ovaries and Fallopian tubes, livers, kidneys, lungs and heart muscle, nor in fetal tests and epididymides. Maternal adrenals responded typically to ACTH by hypertrophy of fascicular cells and loss of vacuolation in their cytoplasm. Fetal adrenals, on the contrary, were very small, with enlarged glomerular zones and atrophic fascicular zones[long dash]changes similar to those produced in adult adrenals by cortisone. This suggested that excessive amounts of cortical steroids from the enlarged maternal adrenals passed into the fetal circulation and inhibited activity of fetal adrenals.