Production of Antihormones by Prolonged Administration of Pituitary Extract. Effect on Anterior Hypophysis

A cytological study has been made of the hypophyses of 2 dogs and 2 sheep which had received prolonged injections of extracts of sheep-pituitary glands,∗ and of 2 dogs that had been injected with antihormone-serum. The striking physical changes in one of the dogs, namely, an atrophy of the thyroid, adrenals and gonads, a cessation of growth, and the development of obesity, have been reported elsewhere. 1

The 2 dogs which were injected subcutaneously with the sheep-pituitary extract for 4 and 7 months respectively, developed anti-hormones which inactivated not only the injected pituitary extract, but also several of the hormones of their own hypophyses.

The 2 dogs which were injected daily with 10 cc of canine antihormone-serum showed signs of moderate inactivation of the gonads, thyroids and adrenals.

Twin ewes were injected with sheep-pituitary extract† daily for 6 months. Their genitalia and mammary glands continually showed signs of activation, and at autopsy their gonads and uteri were found to be stimulated. No gonadotropic antihormone developed. A half-sister of these ewes served as a control.

The hyophyses of the dogs injected with sheep-pituitary extract. The basophile cells show the most striking abnormalities consisting of: (1) a great increase in the size and number of the basophiles; (2) an excessive clumping and liquefaction of cytoplasmic granules; (3) the formation of many vacuoles of 3 different types: (a) clear round spaces containing a non-stainable substance or one removed by the technic employed; (b) scattered clear pale blue vacuoles which in some of the basophiles coalesced to become extensive vacuolar inclusions; (c) scattered deeply basophilic vacuoles which in some cells displaced the cytoplasm almost entirely.