STUDIES ON THE URINARY EXCRETION OF OESTRIN, WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE EFFECT OF THE LUTEINIZING HORMONE AND PROGESTIN

Abstract

After injections of large amounts of oestrin in rabbits or in human beings only traces of this hormone can be recovered in the urine. This led to experiments on normal rabbits, in which luteinizing hormone and progestin were injected together with theelin. The excretion of oestrin in the urine was 10 times greater than when theelin was given alone. The luteinizing hormone had no effect in spayed does while progestin effected as great a recovery of injected oestrin in the spayed as in the normal animal. Progestin, then, is necessary for the excretion of oestrin, the excretion after luteinizing hormone in normal rabbits being due to corpus luteum formation. It was thought that bleeding of a threatened miscarriage in early pregnancy might be due to a deficient corpus luteum. Oestrin in blood and urine of such patients was decreased after administration of luteinizing hormone. In cases of amenorrhea and sterility very little oestrin is recovered in the urine until after injections of luteinizing hormone. This may indicate inadequate anterior pituitary activity or deficient ovarian response. It is pointed out that progestin appears to play an important part in regulating the level of oestrin in the normal menstrual cycle as well as during pregnancy.