HISTOLOGICAL EFFECTS ON PITUITARY AND OVARIES OF LONG TREATMENT WITH THE CYCLOPENTYL ENOL ETHER OF 17 -ACETOXYPROGESTERONE IN THE MONKEY

¹ Department of Obstetrics and Gynæcology, the Hospital of Lodi, Department of Pathological Anatomy, the University of Pavia, Italy

Female baboons were treated with the cyclopentyl enol ether of 17 acetoxyprogesterone (17APc-5) by mouth for several months. The pituitary and ovaries were histologically examined to investigate if the antistrual action of the drug was depending either on a direct action on the ovary or through an inhibition of the anterior hypophysis. While the pituitary keeps its normal picture, the ovaries show signs of inhibition: cystic atrophy of the large follicles, no formation of corpora lutea, shrinkage of the stroma. Such alterations point out the localized action of the steroid to the ovary and seem to be reversible, since the withdrawal of the drug allows a prompt reappearance of normal strus.