HISTOPHYSIOLOGICAL STUDIES ON THE CORPUS ALLATUM OF LEUCOPHAEA MADERAE. II. THE EFFECT OF STARVATION

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Abstract
Adult females of Leucophaea maderae were subjected to total starvation, with or without dehydration, following their emergence. Throughout the period of survival, i.e., up to 95 days, no egg development occurred as the corpora allata failed to become properly activated. Corpora allata of starved animals fixed after varying intervals showed only a small initial rise in volume which was followed by a gradual decrease reaching a minimum below that of normal controls. In another series of animals, starved for 30 days, the return to a normal diet promptly initiated a growth phase in the corpora allata which considerably surpassed that characteristic of the first reproductive cycle in normal animals (7-fold, instead of 4-fold volumetric increase). As to speed and degree, this period of activation compared favorably with that of the 2d cycle in normal females. Thus the delay in reproductive activity, caused by starvation, was at least in part compensated for by a more rapid and complete activation of the corpora allata which in turn promptly led to ovarian development. The effects of starvation and re-feeding on the structure and function of the corpora allata of Leucophaea are in line with those described for the analogous organ in mammals, i.e., the anterior lobe of the pituitary.