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Action of Testosterone Propionate on the Output of Pituitary Gonadotrophins in Mice^*

( Departments of Anatomy and Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.)

Testosterone propionate suppressed the augmented gonadotrophic hormone output of the pituitary of both x-radiated and gonadectomized mice, as determined by the response of intact parabionts.

Two series of experiments involving 47 and 52 pairs of mice in parabiosis were used. In a short-term experiment testosterone propionate (1.25 mg. weekly) restored the high output of pituitary gonadotrophins in castrated and x-rayed animals to normal levels. In a long-term experiment the same dose of testosterone propionate given weekly kept the gonadotrophic output within normal limits for periods up to 10 months.

Testosterone inhibited the abnormal release of pituitary gonadotrophins both after castration or x-radiation of mice. Why ovarian tumors still occur in x-rayed mice which are regularly injected with testosterone propionate cannot be explained by assuming an elevated exposure of the ovaries to gonadotrophins. In these animals other factors than overproduction of gonadotrophins must be responsible for the tumor formation.

^* Part of this paper was presented before the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, New York City, April 11–13, 1952 (abstract published in Cancer Research, 12:254, 1952).

Supported by a grant from The Anna Fuller Fund, The Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund, and the National Cancer Institute, United States Public Health Service.

Received 12/ 3/54.