A CYTOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF UTERINE GROWTH DURING PREGNANCY

Abstract

The present paper aims to extend the Karyometric statistical method for the analysis of interphasic nuclear growth to a study of uterine tissues. The endocrine viewpoint was kept in mind in this paper, which deals with uterine growth in pregnancy, as also in another paper (in press) which concerns a similar cytological study of uterine growth during the estrous cycle and artificially induced estrus. The growth response, both in size and number, of all cellular elements of the uterus during pregnancy has long been known. Gander (1930), Stieve (1929, 1932), Froböse (1934, 1935), Fabris (1935), Crandall (1938), Krichesky (1942) and others conducted their researches from the standpoint of the cell as a whole, although they do mention increase in nuclear size. It is this latter phenomenon of which the Karyometric method takes advantage. It is believed that such a study applied to the pregnant uterus, reflecting cycles of hyperplasia and hypertrophy of the tissues, would have endocrine significance.