The Effect of the Intravenous Injection of Substances Affecting Tumor Growth on the Cyclic Changes in the Ovaries and on Placentomata

If six to seven days after copulation incisions are made under ether anesthesia into the uterus, and on the day following this operation one or several injections of hirudin are given, changes set in in the ovaries which correspond to those found at the time of ovulation; namely, a degeneration of all the follicles with the exception of the small ones. These degenerative changes are followed by the same developmental changes as in the normal cycle. This represents a second method of altering experimentally the periodicity of the sexual cycle, the first consisting in the early extirpation of the corpora lutea described previously by one of us. Under the same conditions intravenous injections of hirudin destroy in the large majority of cases the greater part of experimental placentomata through hemorrhages, and they prevent the remaining placentomatous areas from active proliferation, probably as a result of interference with the circulation. These injections may also cause abortion in pregnant animals. Intravenous injections of hirudin produce a tendency to hemorrhage at various places in the body, and these hemorrhages are prone to occur, especially in rapidly growing tissues, where the blood vessels are less resistant, as in tumors and in placentomata, also in the neighborhood of necrotic areas. In the stomach the hemorrhages may be followed by digestion of the tissues through the gastric juice. It is probable that there is a connection between the action of hirudin on the blood (coagulability and viscosity) and the tendency to hemorrhage. Withdrawal of blood, intravenous injections of distilled water, colloidal copper, nucleoproteid, or casein have no marked effect on the cyclic changes in the ovaries or on placentomata.