A CRITICISM OF ANTE-NATAL WORK

Abstract

EIAORA of menstruation appears highly interesting in relation to the genesis of the menstrual cycle.It is unlikely that the hormone found in the urine was ingested with the food, as comparatively large quantities of oestrin would need to be administered through the alimentary canal to give the rate of excretion observed.It must, however, be emphasized that in those post-menopausal cases in which oestrin excretion was found the urine was hydrolysed previous to the ether extraction, so that it is im- possible to say whether any of the hormone originally present in the urine was in an ether-extractable form.This problem requires further investigation.Lastly, the question arises as to the significance of the data so far obtained by a number of observers on the oestrin content of various body fluids and excretions.Where the material is directly injected into the ovariectcmized mice (or rats), an assay of the total oestrous hormone content is presumably obtained.In those cases, however, where extraction of the material has been under- taken previous to the assay, results relating only to the hormone soluble in that particular solvent will be ob- tained, unless hydrolysis has also been performed.It nmay be urged that data relating to a definite form of oestrin (in so far as the solubility is concerned) are of more significance than the total quantity of oestrus-in- ducing hormone-that is, active in ovariectomized animals -present in a particular body fluid or excretion, and this may well be.On the other hand, the possibility that the rate of inactivation of the hormone may vary in different circumstances, physiological or pathological, and that the activity of the hormone in the body under normal or abnormal conditions may in part be deter- mined by the rate of its inactivation, cannot be ignored, and further exploration of this aspect of the question appears to be necessary.SUNIMARY Known doses of ketohydroxyoestrin have been injected intramuscularly into subjects, ovariectomized, or subse- quent to the onset of the menopause, and the excretion of the hormone in the urine subsequently determined.It was found:1.That only a small proportion of the oestrin ad- ministered could be recovered from the urine.2. That a proportion of the hormone excreted was not extractable by ether.(This also applies to the oestrin excreted in normal pregnancy.)3. That the blood of.injected subjects contained less than one mouse unit of oestrin in 40 c.cm.Incidentally it was also established that substantial amounts of oestrin may be excreted in the urine even eighteen years after the menopause.