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Development of Corpora Lutea from Follicles Autotransplanted Under the Kidney Capsule in Rabbits

Endocrinology Research Laboratories, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, and Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Physiology, Albany Medical College Albany, New York 12208

Abstract

Preovulatory follicles, dissected from the rabbit ovary 5–8 hr after mating and autotransplanted under the kidney capsule, developed into corpora lutea with a normal histologic appearance. These corpora lutea secreted progesterone as evidenced by the fact that pregnancies were maintained in the absence of any corpora lutea in the ovaries. However, if the ovaries were removed, abortions occurred and corpora lutea under the kidney capsule regressed. Daily injections of 17β-estradiol (1.5 or 2.0 µg/rabbit/day) prevented abortions and embryos were alive at autopsy 5 days after bilateral ovariectomy. Bilateral castration at thetime of follicle autotransplantation did not preclude the early development of corpora lutea asrevealed by histology of grafts removed at autopsy 4 days later. Corpora lutea under the kidneycapsule and those in situ regressed following an injection of luteinizing hormone (NIH-LH-Sll, 90 µg/rabbit). The LH-stimulated follicle isolated from contiguous ovarian tissues develops into a corpus luteum, which is sustained by a luteotrophic hormone of ovarian origin, presumed to be an estrogen. LH-induced regression of corpora lutea may be caused bya temporary decline in estrogen associated with ovulation. (Endocrinology 85: 423, 1969)

Footnotes

Supported by USPHS Grants AM 00292 and HD 02503.

¹ Postdoctoral Fellow USPHS, 5F2 HD-29, 903-02. Present address: Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Physiology, Albany Medical College, Albany, N. Y. 12208.

² Research Career Development Awardee, USPHS, 1-K3-HD-19-448. Present address: Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Physiology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.

Received February 24, 1969.