Abstract
In order to study the promoting action of the follicular hormone on the genital system of the female, 48 rats were treated. After 2 previous endovaginal instillations of 0.30 per cent 3,4-benzpyrene, the rats have been divided into 4 groups: the first did not receive further treatment, the second received endovaginal instillations of 0.1 ml of folliculin (Estrene) every 3 days, the third received instillations of 0.1ml of croton oil in olive oil, the fourth 0.1 ml of a 5 per cent solution of croton oil in Estrene. The rats were sacrificed at time intervals, from a minimum of 20 days to a maximum of 250 days.
The whole of the experiments showed that:
a) benzpyrene in the employed dosis did not produce tumour occurrence in the genital organs of the rat.
b) the association of benzpyrene (initiating factor) with croton oil in olive oil (promoting factor) induces only changes of hyperplastic and precarcinomatous type.
c) folliculin, on the other hand, exerts a marked promoting action on cancer appearance. In fact, in animals treated with folliculin, a gradual transformation of the hyperplastic processes in precarcinomatous stages and in true epithelial tumours is observed, restricted to the vagina and the low portion of the uterine cervix; such transformation is directly related to the duration of the folliculin treatment, and the hormonal action is increased by croton oil association. In the upper portion of the cervix, in the horns, salpinx and ovary only alterations dependent on the specific and prolonged action of the follicular hormone are observed.
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