The Effect of Ovarian Extracts on the Oxygen Consumption of the Uterus

Abstract

IN a previous paper [1934] the authors have shown that the oxygen consumption rate of the isolated uterus of the rat and mouse shows a cyclical variation. This rate is approximately constant during cestrus and the early part of dicestrus, but it is approximately doubled during the latter part of dicestrus. In the case of ovariectomised animals, however, the rate shows no cyclical variation and is approximately equal to the rate in normal animals during cestrus and early dicestrus. This absence of cyclical change after ovariectomy suggests that the ovary secretes a substance which controls uterine oxygen consumption.There is evidence to support this suggestion. Zondek and Bernhardt [1925], Laqueur, Hart and Jongh [1926], Kochman and Wagner [1926], McLendon and Burr [1929], McLendon, Myrick, Conklin and Wilson [1931], Arvay [1931] found a rise in the gaseous metabolism of the whole animal after injection of ovarian extracts. Effects of ovarian extracts on carbohydrate metabolism have been described by Estes and Burge [1928] and Raab [1930], and a rise in blood fats of women injected with an ovarian extract has been described by Kaufmann [1931]. Laqueur [1927], and Kaufmann, Muller, and Muhlbock [1932] found that ovarian substances caused an increased development rate in tadpoles. David [1931], and Aschheim and Gesenius [1933] found an increase in the oxygen consumption rate of the isolated uterus of mice which had been injected with ovarian extracts.The results which have been quoted agree that the ovary influences metabolism, but the identity of the ovarian hormone or hormones which produce metabolic changes is a matter of some doubt. Most of the investigators who have been mentioned used crude ovarian extracts or commercial ovarian preparations which contained large quantities of cestrin; but the rise in the gaseous metabolic rate of rats that Kochmann and Wagner [1926] found was ascribed to a new ovarian hormone other than cestrin, and the authors called this new hormone "oobolin." The metabolic effects of the ovarian extracts of Kaufmann [1931], Muhlbock and Kaufmann [1932], and Kaufmann,

Thyroid and Brain Respiration

“…Positive findings have been reported by Adler & Lipschütz [1922], Neuschloss [1924], Ahlgren [1925], Reinwein & Singer [1928], Ebina [1932], Euler [1932,1933], Verebély [1932], Paal [1933], Davis, Da Costa & Hastings [1934], Mansfeld [1935], Scott [1935], Davis & Hastings [1936] and Haarmann [1936]. On the other hand, Ellinger [1922], Fleischmann [1927], Anselmino et al [1929], Paasch & Reinwein [1929], Rothschild [1930], Horn [1930], Hopping [1930], Myhrman [1932], Hicks [1932], Verebély [1932], Canzanelli & Rapport [1937] and Canzanelli et al [1939] have reported negative results.…”

“…Foster [1926] observed that thyroidectomy produced a diminished O2 uptake of muscle tissue respiring in glucose, a result also reported by Dye & Maughan [1929a, b] with and without the addition of succinate to the respiring muscle mince. Many workers have reported increases in O2 uptake of surviving tissues after treating animals with thyroxine or thyroid preparations; notably Dresel [1928] in kidney and liver, Anselmino, Eichler & Schlossmann [1929] in liver, spleen and kidney, Hopping [1930] in alligator red blood cells, Hicks [1932] in muscle, McEachern [1932] in heart, Dye [1933] in muscle, Gerard & McIntyre [1933] in liver, auricle and vagus nerve, Meyer, McTiernan & Aub [1933] in liver, Ebina [1932] in liver and kidney, McEachern [1935] in kidney, liver and muscle, Khayyal & Scott [1935] in uterus and Victor & Andersen [1938] in liver and kidney. As far as is known, the only work on the respiration of brain tissue following thyroid treatment is that of Cohen & Gerard [1937].…”