DOSAGE RELATIONSHIPS IN AUGMENTATION OF PITUITARY GONADOTROPIC EXTRACT BY BLOOD AND HEMIN

¹ From the Departments of Zoology and Genetics, University of Wisconsin, Madison

The addition of different amounts of "augmenter" (blood or hemin) to pituitary gonadotropic extracts produced variations in the augmentation of ovarian weight. Likewise augmentation by any given amount of augmenter depended upon the dosage of pituitary extract with which it was combined. These determinations were made upon 187 rats, 21 days of age.

The optimum dosages of pituitary extract for maximum augmentation by blood or hemin were those that acting alone produced ovaries weighing 33 to 43 mg. on the average.

The relationship of augmentation to percentage ovarian solids was studied in the "hemin" experiment. The correlation was negative (r = –0.70;P < 0.01). The lower percentage of solids in the augmented ovaries appeared to be associated with the presence of fewer corpora lutea and more cystic follicles than in control ovaries of similar weight.

Addition of augmenter to a small dosage of pituitary extract made it possible to develop larger ovaries within a five-day interval than with any dosage of pituitary extract alone.