Differential Action of Sex Steroids on Ovary and Adrenal Cortex of Syrian Golden Hamster

Abstract

Materials and Methods

The methods used were gravimetry, light microscopy and statistical analysis of the values obtained. Each of the following hormones — medroxyprogesterone acetate (MP), cyproterone acetate (CA), dydrogesterone (DY), or testosterone propionate (TP) — was injected in increasing dosage into groups of 16 female hamsters starting on the 4th day after their birth and continuing to their 8th week of age. Weekly doses per animal: MP, 0.1–0.8 mg, CA, 1.25–10 mg, DY, 1.25–10 mg, TP, 0.25–2 mg; 16 control animals received only dissolving agent. Immediately after treatment ceased, one-half of each group was killed; the remaining killed after 4 weeks. We weighed the animals, their ovaries, and adrenals, and fixed these endocrine organs in Bouin’s solution.

Results

After 8 weeks of treatment the ovaries of the TP-treated animals weighed significantly less than those of the controls. Histologically, primary and secondary follicles were occasionally present; tertiary follicles or corpora lutea could not be found. Similar changes were evident in most of the MP-treated animals.

When we compared the ovaries of 8-week-old animals with those from the 12-week-old animals of the same group, we could detect gravimetrically and histologically differences in the animals treated with MP and TP. In both groups, the ovaries showed an impressive recovery during the 4-week pause in treatment. Ovarian weight was like that of control animals of the same age. Tertiary follicles and corpora lutea were demonstrable in the MP group. The histologic picture in the TP-treated animals differed radically from that of the controls or the other groups. Even after the 4-week pause we found only primary and secondary follicles and the weight increase was due to a luteinization of stroma.

The ovarian weight of CA- and DY-treated groups did not differ from the control groups at any time. But in MP-, DY- and CA-treated groups there was significant decrease in the number of corpora lutea and significant increase of tertiary follicles in MP- and DY-treated animals in the 8-week-old groups. After 4-week therapy pause the number of corpora lutea and tertiary follicles in DY- and MP-treated animals resembled that of the controls, while in CA-treated animals the number of corpora lutea and tertiary follicles was still reduced.

The sex steroids used affected the adrenal glands more intensely and for longer. The weight of the adrenal glands of the 8-week-old animals receiving MP and CA was less than that of controls. In contrast, those of the TP-treated animals were heavier. In the MP and CA groups the adrenals revealed a distinct reduction in the fascicular zone; in the TP group a stimulation, especially of the reticular zone. Both, the inhibitory effect and the stimulatory effect were still evident after the 4-week pause in treatment. DY treatment failed to affect the adrenal cortex either morphologically of gravimetrically.

Our studies showed that (a) perinatal treatment with TP prevents later cyclic ovulation, (b) synthetic gestagens with similar effects on the endometrium have different effects on the adrenal glands and ovaries, and (c) after 4-week pause in gestagen treatment the changes observed before in the ovary may have resolved, whereas in the adrenal gland the inhibitory or stimulatory action of the sex hormones may persist.