CHRONIC CYSTIC MASTITIS AND STERILITY

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
DURING the past decade it has been repeatedly demonstrated that the growth and development of the breast is largely dependent upon the ovarian hormones. In general, it has been accepted that estrogen mediates the development of the mammary ducts, and progesterone, the development of the lobular alveoli (23, 28). In animals with a persistent corpus luteum, the mammary gland shows extensive development, while in those with a short or absent luteal phase, the breast development is limited to the ducts. The modus operandi of the sex hormones upon breast development is not as yet entirely clear. It had been thought that the action was a direct one, but the failure of estrogens and androgens to develop mammary tissue in hypophysectomized animals, and the rapid occurrence of mammary involution following hypophysectomy (28), emphasized the importance of the pituitary in the development of the breast. The discovery of a mammogenic factor (36) in the pituitaries of animals receiving ovarian hormones (11), and the separation of this factor into two parts, one secreted under the influence of estrogen and stimulating mammary duct growth, and the other secreted under the influence of progesterone and stimulating lobule proliferation (15), emphasized the reciprocal pituitary gonadal relationship.

This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit: