ON THE EFFECTS OF INJECTING LIPOID EXTRACTS OF BULL TESTES INTO CASTRATED GUINEA PIGS

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Abstract
The method of extraction of bull testes in an attempt to obtain the testis hormone is briefly described; the indicator employed to detect the effects of the hormone after injection was the spermatozoon motility test; and the assay of given samples has been expressed in terms employed in reading this reaction. Previous studies by McGee had indicated the lipoid fraction as the portion of the testicle extractives that contained a capon comb growth promoting substance. Portions of the lipoid fraction obtained by different methods of refinement were employed. The spermatozoon motility test (depending on increased length of spermatozoon life within an isolated epididymis after testis removal followed by injections, as compared with similar isolated epididy-mides and testis removal but without injection) gave results which indicated that the substances injected contained some of the active principle of the testis; motile spermatozoa were observed 54 days after testis removal followed by injection of the preparations, whereas without injection this period was limited to 23 days. When one normal testicle is present in an animal the spermatozoon life in an isolated epididymis is approximately 65 to 70 days. The effect of the substances injected, so far as this test is capable of demonstrating, was similar to and almost as great as the effect produced by a normal testis in situ. Since the injected material acted in a manner similar to the internal secretions of the intact organ, the authors consider that the preparations contained at least some of the active principle of the internal secretion or testis hormone.