THE EFFECT OF OVARIAN TRAUMATIZATION ON THE SPONTANEOUS ACTIVITY AND GENITAL TRACT OF THE ALBINO RAT, CORRELATED WITH A HISTOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE OVARIES

Abstract

The authors produced ovarian cysts by (1) completely transecting the ovary by 4 or 5 parallel incisions; (2) resecting f of the ovary; (3) after freeing the ovary from the peri-ovarial sack (a) tying off the ovarian artery, or (b) resecting a small portion of the uterine mesentery, which carries the ovarian artery. Method 3 b was most successful. In all experiments one ovary was removed completely before experimenting with the other. All animals used (28) showed an immediate post-operative drop in activity; but subsequent behavior divided them into 3 groups: (1) 8 regained a normal activity level, with the usual 4-day rhythm, and the cyclic vaginal smear. These, at subsequent operation, showed a normal ovary with a normal generative tract, the ovaries having ova, graafian follicles, and corpora lutea. (2) Four showed a low castrate level of activity and a dioestrous smear. At necropsy no ovaries were found, and the uteri had atrophied to an extreme degree. (3) Sixteen regained their pre-operative level of activity, some of them being more active than before operation. The activity was completely arhythmic and the vaginal smears showed only cornified epithelial cells. At a subsequent examination, large cysts of the ovary were found and both uterine cornua were hypertrophied to several times their normal size; the cysts were of the simple follicular type.