THE ACTION OF EXTRACTS OF ANTERIOR PITUITARY AND OF PREGNANCY URINE ON THE TESTES OF IMMATURE RATS AND MONKEYS*

Abstract

Several score of papers dealing with the action of extracts of pregnancy urine and of the anterior pituitary on the male genital system bear witness to the attention which has been focused on this point since 1927. In our earlier work on the effect of implants (Smith and Engle), we noted that the distinct growth of the seminal vesicles of implanted animals demonstrated an activity of the interstitial cells, though morphological changes, were not directly observable on these cell bodies. These observations have been greatly extended by many investigators,1 who note varying degrees of hypertrophy and hyperplasia in the interstitial cells after treatment with extracts of anterior pituitary or pregnancy urine. With the exception of the report of Balawenetz (1930), no one has reported success in hastening the formation of spermatids or spermatozoa, in an immature male mammal, and it is generally agreed that, in the male at least, none of these gonad-stimulating factors are directly concerned with gametogenesis. These accumulated observations on the prepubertal male emphasize the position taken a year ago in regard to the action of anterior pituitary principles on the female (Engle, 2). We are dealing with a genital acceleration mainly of the hormone producing structures but have not produced true precocious puberty. That phenomenon is more complex than may be explained by the action of a single hormonal factor.