THE EXPERIMENTAL PRODUCTION OF MENSTRUAL ANOMALIES12

Abstract

Castrated macaques were injected with various combinations of the ovarian hormones. Menstrual anomalies comparable to all of the basic types of clinical abnormalities of menstrual interval and flow were produced. Each type of anomaly was produced with estrogen and with estrogen-progesterone and, in each category, with dosages varying considerably in magnitude. There was no constant correlation between type of menstrual symptom and relative level of stimulation as compared with ovarian failure. Bleeding occurred in all possible relations to the level of stimulation and fluctuations in same. The results afford evidence of a cause and effect relationship between menstrual abnormalities and ovarian function, confirm the clinical evidence that there is involved in the production of these disorders a mechanism primarily vascular which is not dependent upon the endometrial histology, emphasize the unreliability of uterine bleeding as an indicator of ovarian function and support the conclusion that uterine bleeding is not controlled by any one hormonal influence but by a combination of influences. The evidence presented indicates 3 classes of influence: 1) the current hormonal stimulus, 2) conditions existing prior to application of the current stimulus and 3) stimuli acting subsequent to the onset of flow.