Endocrine Function of the Ovarian Interstitial Gland of Rabbits

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Abstract
The ability of interstitial tissue of the rabbit ovary to maintain pregnancy and to secrete progestin was investigated. X-irradiated ovaries which contained only interstitial tissue failed to maintain pregnancy following the removal of contralateral normal ovaries containing corpora lutea. Neither a small dose of estradiol (3 [mu]g/day) nor large doses of gonadotrophin (chorionic gonadotrophin, whole pituitary powder, or NIH-LH) were able to prevent interruption of pregnancies in doses with an X-irradiated ovary. Control, unirradiated does, pregnant in one uterine horn, maintained pregnancies to term in the majority of cases following sham operation or removal of a contralateral ovary. By chemical determination, neither ovarian venous blood nor the X-irradiated ovary with only interstitial tissue contained measurable quantities of progesterone, but 20[alpha]-hydroxy-4-pregnen-3-one (20[alpha]-OH) was found in copious amounts. It is concluded that interstitial cells are stimulated directly by gonadotrophin to synthe -size and to secrete 20[alpha]-OH. The failure of interstitial tissue to maintain pregnancy is considered to be primarily attributable to the inability of this tissue to secrete significant quantities of progesterone.