A histochemical study of the ovaries of women suffering from the Stein-Leventhal syndrome

Histopathological Findings of the Ovaries in Anovulatory Women

“…Though histological studies have been conducted on the ovaries of patients with special syndromes such as gonadal dysgenesis (Jones 1962;Greenblatt et al 1967) polycystic ovary (Goldzieher and Green 1962;Dokumov and Dashev 1963), primary amenorrhea (Zourlas and Comninos 1971;Black and Govan 1972) and gonadotropin-resistant ovary (Campenbout et al 1972), scarcely any detailed histopathological studies have yet been conducted on the ovaries of anovulatory women of a variety of causes with reference to the degree of clinical disturbance of ovulation. Except for the report of Tanaka (1972) on the ovaries of 15 anovulatory women, all studies on the ovaries of anovulatory women have dealt with endoscopic and macroscopic findings supplemented with some histopathological features (Nishimura et al 1970).…”

Pathogenesis of the Polycystic Ovary: Use of an Animal Model for Study

“…90 Enzymatic abnormalities were also found in polycystic ovaries, as compared with normal ova ries, using histochemical techniques. [91][92][93][94] In spite of this evidence, it was not clear whether there was a basic defect in ovarian steroidogenesis in the polycystic ovary syndrome or only a func tional defect caused by inappropriate gonadotropin secretion, acyclicity, and lack of proper follicular development. Axelrod and associates 95 have re ported concurrent adrenal and ovarian 3ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase deficiency in a case of poly cystic ovarian disease.…”

Sites of Steroid Production in the Polycystic Ovary

“…Some have considered that excess androgens arose from medullary tissues (Allen and Woolf, 1959;Goldzieher, 1973), while others have concluded that stromal cells in general were responsible (Rice and Savard, 1966;Kirschner and Jacobs, 1971). Histological studies, however, have mostly shown the main morphological change in the polycystic ovary to be an increase in apparent metabolic activity of theca interna cells in the cortex of the ovaries (Jones, 1962;Dokumov and Dashev, 1963;Greenblatt and Mahesh, 1976). There appears to be only one report in which the steroidogenic properties of parts of the polycystic ovary have been compared ; the authors concluded that the cortex was the more active site of androgen production (Warren and Salhanick, 1961).…”