THE DEVELOPMENT OF CORPORA LUTEA IN ANDROGENISED FEMALE RATS WITH THE OVARY TRANSPLANTED INTO THE SPLEEN

Abstract

When female rats 1 to 2 days old are given a single injection of testosterone they become androgenized: throughout the rest of the animal''s life the ovaries have follicles but do not develop corpora lutea. If the ovaries are removed and one of these androgenised ovaries is autotransplanted into the spleen, the follicles in this transplanted ovary become lutenized and many corpora lutea are present. If the androgenized ovary or a normal ovary is homotransplanted into the spleen of a gonadectomized animal, corpora lutea develop in this grafted ovary. It does not matter whether the recipient is male or female, or whether it is androgenized or not. If animals are unilaterally ovariectomized and the ovary which has been removed is autotransplanted into the spleen, no corpora lutea develop in this grafted ovary. These findings are the same in androgenized animals and in normal animal. Castration cells develop in the pituitary of bilaterally ovariectomized animals whether or not there has been an ovarian graft in the spleen, and whether or not the animals are androgenized. The development of castration cells can be prevented if one ovary is left in situ, whether or not the animals have an ovarian graft in the spleen, and whether or not they have been androgenized. no castration cells occur in androgenized animals with both ovaries left in position. These results indicate that in androgenized animals if there are no circulating estrogens the pituitary secretes larger amounts of LH [luteinizing hormone] and this stimulates the transplanted ovary to develop corpora lutea.