EFFECT OF OVINE INTERSTITIAL CELL-STIMULATING HORMONE ON SPERMATOGENESIS IN THE HYPOPHYSECTOMIZED MOUSE1

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Abstract
The effect of interstitial cell-stimulating hormone (ICSH) on the maintenance of spermatogenesis in the C3H mouse when administered immediately after hypophysectomy, and on the repair of the seminiferous tubules when administered 2 weeks after the operation, has been investigated. The hormone was injected for a period of 15 days; partial maintenance was obtained with a daily dose of 0.001 mg. and complete maintenance with 0.010 mg. With sub-maintenance doses, the higher the dose of the hormone the more mature were the germ cells observed in the tubules. When injections of ICSH were begun 2 weeks after hypophysectomy, repair of the germinal epithelium was obtained; degeneration and desquamation of the primary spermatocytes ceased, spermatogenic development in many tubules advanced to the spermatid stage, and the spermatozoa were observed in the epididymides in 50% of the injected animals. Interstitial cells, normal in appearance, were abundant. Testosterone propionate, 2.5 mg. per day, maintained spermatogenic activity; however, it effected only a slight repair of the tubules once the germinal epithelium had degenerated. Bovine growth hormone, itself ineffective in maintaining spermatogenesis, enhanced the effect of ICSH on the growth of the ventral prostate and seminal vesicles.