THE EFFECTS OF SALIVARIADENECTOMY ON THE REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS OF THE FEMALE RAT

¹ Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind.

Removal of the major salivary glands (salivariadenectomy) in the rat is followed by a retarded development of the female reproductive organs. This retarded development was characterized histologically by the appearance of a reduced number of mature follicles and fewer, atypical corpora lutea in the salivariadenectomized animals. Animals which were pair-fed to the operated animals demonstrated no ovarian or uterine changes. These results indicated that the effects of salivariadenectomy upon the reproductive organs were not entirely dependent upon nutritional differences.

Assay of the gonadotropic hormone content of the pituitary of salivariadenectomized rats indicated that the operation resulted in an increased amount of both FSH and LH in the pituitary gland. This result could explain the retarded development of the reproductive organs.