The sexual glands and metabolism

Abstract

Rats (51) and rabbits (18) were used. Bulls'' or pigs'' testes and prostates were used for the isolation of the extracts. The authors have been unsuccessful in preventing atrophy of the genital organs of castrated animals by feeding with fresh or dried testicular tissue or by injecting fresh emulsions or different extracts from normal testis. In the same experiments prostatic tissue alone, or ingested with testicular tissue, also failed to stimulate the genital organs, as was similarly the case with injections of the prostatic extracts used alone or with the corresponding testicular extracts. A method is described for the removal of depressing substances from the water-soluble extracts of bulls'' and boars'' sexual glands and for the isolation of fractions able to raise the N metabolism of rabbits and rats moderately. The results indicate that of the water-soluble extracts of testis and prostate the more active are those precipitated at PH 4.0 or obtained by a second salting out after the removal of the fractions previously precipitated. The effect of these extracts upon the urinary flow is sometimes very marked, but is on the whole inconsistent. There is no difference in the influence of these extracts upon normal, castrated or parathyroidectomized animals. Thyroidectomized animals never have shown any significant rise of N metabolism after these injections. Insensibility to a 2nd injection of the extracts was noticed in several experiments. It can develop 24 hrs. after the 1st injection of water-soluble extracts. This may partly explain some of the cases of inconsistent action of the extracts. Besides other causes of the inconsistent influence of the extracts isolated the varying degree of functional state and therefore the varying reaction of the synergetic and antagonistic endocrine glands to the injections are also responsible for the cases of weak or variable effect.