Carl G. Heller

Dichotomy Between Hypophyseal Content and Amount of Circulating Gonadotropins During Starvation.

Summary During starvation circulating gonadotrophins fall precipitously whereas the content of hypophyseal gonadotrophin remains as high as under normal circumstances. This is in direct contrast to the usual situation in which pituitary gonadotrophin content accurately reflects the amount released into the circulation.

The Clinical Uses of Testosterone in the Male

Publisher Summary This chapter elaborates that androgen therapy causes a specific and desirable response in certain situations; in other situations, it elicits a response in which it is not the drug of choice, and in another situation, the response elicited is highly undesirable. There are a number of situations in which testosterone has been repeatedly applied and found to have no specific beneficial effect and in which it may even prove to be harmful. These include the use of testosterone in psychogenic impotence, homosexuality, angina pectoris, and benign prostate hypertrophy. Testosterone has been used in many other conditions, such as tinea capitis infestation, peptic ulcer, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus in which little benefit from its use could be expected. The use of steroid hormones for their protein anabolic effects is being systematically investigated in many qualified laboratories and answers should be forthcoming in the near future.

Regulation of ovarian growth; inhibition by estrogen or stimulation by gonadotrophins?

Summary Both ovaries of mature female rats were autotransplanted into the spleen, allowing the ovaries to be stimulated by pituitary gonadotrophins, but denying them the presence of circulating estrogen by interposing the liver between the ovaries and the systemic circulation. The ovaries of these animals increased 3-fold in weight after 30-57 days transplantation (149.5 mg) over their weight at the time of operation (49.0 mg). Two groups of experimental animals were injected with estradiol benzoate. One group received amounts exceeding physiological requirements and the other amounts approximately meeting physiological requirements. In both groups, the ovarian weights showed a marked decrease below the weight at operation. It is concluded that ovarian growth is inhibited by the presence of circulating estrogens.