Abstract
1. A method has been described for measuring the oxygen consumption of plain muscle, such as the uterus, by suspending it in oxygen in specially shaped bulbs connected with a Barcroft manometer.
2. The uterus of the mouse, immature, adult and castrate, in dioestrus is sufficiently thin to permit of an adequate diffusion of oxygen when suspended in this gas, for the observed radius of the tissue is slightly less than the "critical radius" calculated from Hill's formula. But in oestrus, natural or induced, the former has been found to be greater than the latter.
3. The average oxygen consumption of the dioestrous uterus of the mouse is about 1.7 to 1.8 cc. dry gas per gram moist weight per hour at n.t.p. No definite rise in oxygen use was noticed in natural oestrus or when oestrus was induced in the castrated animal.
4. A definite increase in oxygen consumption of the uterus occurred in immature mouse during oestrus induced by injection of oestrin; the average value obtained was about 2.3 cc. per gram per hour.
5. The increase in size of the uterus during oestrus is not due to any great increase in the water content of the uterus.
Footnotes
- Received March 20, 1931.
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