No abstract

The transplantation of tissue into the anterior chamber of the eye has been employed as an experimental procedure since 1873, but the increased interest in endocrinology in the past decade has led to greater use of this method. Schochet (1) revived the use of ocular or iridial transplants for a study of endometriosis, and Markee (2) developed methods for continuous study of the tissue in relation to physiological activity. The earlier literature is reviewed by Podleschka and Divorzak (3). Markee and Andersen (4) elaborated quantitative methods for measurement of the size of the transplants and recorded a series of changes with pregnancy. Markee, Pasqualetti and Hiusey (5) applied the method to a study of the effects of transection of the spinal cord on the endometrium. Recently, Buxton (6) and Haterius, Schweizer and Charipper (7) have successfully transplanted the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland into the eye.Despite a considerable number of published observations upon transplanted female accessory sexual organs in female animals, there is only one observation, that of Heckel and Kretschmer (8), on male accessory sexual organs in male animals. They found that the prostate could be transplanted to the eye in rabbits and that the administration of the anterior pituitary-like hormone of pregnancy urine increased the size of successful transplants.In the present report, methods of transplantation and variations in the size of seminal vesicular and prostatic transplants under normal conditions are described. In subsequent papers, the effect of parenterally administered hormones and the correlation of the size of the transplant and the blood cholesterol will be given. MethodsChinchilla rabbits that weighed about 2000 gin. were used in all experiments except in those with prepuberal animals, which were taken immediately after 273

Markee (1) with Schochet (2) first used transplants of tissue in the eye for physiological observations. With transplants of endometrium in the rabbit, they observed the color changes in the estral cycle and the relation of the vascular changes to muscular contractions (3). Later, Markee and Andersen (4) devised a method for measurement of the size of the transplants by camera lucida drawings and observed a definite series of changes during pregnancy. Litt (5) placed placental tissue in the eyes of pregnant rabbits and observed no effect on the subsequent lactation. After 30 days of growth and establishment of vascularity, there was gradual degeneration and absorption. Goodman (6) with homoiotransplants of immature ovaries in intact and spayed male and female rats observed a number of physiological phenomena. A successful take in a spayed female was accompanied as a rule by regular estral cycles. In the male rat, follicles were formed but corpora lutea did not appear unless extracts of pregnancy urine were administered. The administration of the female sex hormone in the male and female was followed by complete or partial atrophy of the ovarian grafts.From this incomplete review of the literature, it is clear that, at least with certain organs, transplants in the eye are functioning viable tissues and may be used for physiological observations. With the photographic method which has been described in the preceding paper, it has been possible to follow accurately changes in the size of seminal vesicular and prostatic transplants under the influence of parenterally administered hormones in intact and castrated male rabbits. MetkodsThe methods of transplantation and observations of size were identical with the procedure outlined in the preceding paper (7). The hormones used were those 281

No abstract