EXPERIMENTALLY INDUCED DESCENT OF THE TESTIS IN THE MACACUS MONKEY BY HORMONES FROM THE ANTERIOR PITUITARY AND PREGNANCY URINE

Abstract

The response of the testes of immature rats and monkeys to injections of pregnancy urine and anterior pituitary have been discussed in the preceding paper. The present report emphasizes one phase of the response in the Macacus monkey, together with an interpretation of its relation to human biology. Little is known about the size or age of the male Macacus monkey at sexual maturity, but the animals used in this study were still very considerably below the advent of puberty. Littermate or age-weight controls cannot be obtained with monkeys. Therefore, unilateral organ controls were obtained in several animals by operative removal of one testis and a portion of one seminal vesicle. After a post-operative interval of several days, treatment with either pyridine extract of anterior pituitary or the water soluble fraction from pregnancy urine was begun,† In these immature males, whether the animal weighs 2500 grams or 4400 grams, the testes are located in the upper portion of the inguinal ring (Fig. 1). The internal ring is closed, and the testis cannot be retracted into the abdomen by traction on the spermatic cord. While the testes vary in size with the size of the animal, they are relatively inconspicuous though readily located bodies. A testis in this location is moveable in the canal on palpation for about the length of the testis, or roughly about one-third of the length of the canal.