ON THE GRADED RELATION BETWEEN THE INTENSITY OF HORMONE ACTION AND THE CHARACTER OF THE RECIPIENT TISSUE

Abstract

An analysis of the actions of growth hormones on the vagino-cervico-uterine tract reveals a graded reactivity of the tissue to the stimulating effect of the hormone in the direction from vagina to uterus. The graded intensity of proliferation thus established corresponds to gradations in the structure of the tissue. This is, as far as we know, the 1st observation of a gradation of hormone action on contiguous parts of a tissue; it is presumably due to a graded degree of reactivity of the tissues to the hormones as well as to a graded ability of adjoining cells to combine with certain hormones. There are, associated with the intensities of proliferation of the epithelium, graded rapidities and intensities of transformation into keratin of the upper epithelial layers which are farthest removed from the source of O and foodstuffs, the process leading to the production of sheets of keratin and to an early casting off of these layers in the region corresponding to the greatest proliferative energy, a hyalinization of isolated cells taking place in the region corresponding to a diminished growth energy.