Functional States of the Thyroid Gland and the Level of Nucleic Acids and Histones in Rabbit Testes and Ovaries

Abstract

WHILE carrying out investigations on the nucleic acids and histones in the liver and thymus in order to show their dependence on the general cell metabolism¹, I decided to investigate the effect of thyroid gland activity on the genital glands. The experiments were carried out on 32 rabbits, 16 males and 16 females. In order to induce states corresponding to hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism the following pharmacological preparations were used: thyroxine, tapasol and methylothiouracil. The animals were divided into the following groups: Group I (4 males and 4 females) received thyroxine in the form of an injection in doses of 0.05 mg/kg of body-weight. Group II (4 males and 4 females) received injections of tapasol in doses of 1 mg/kg of body-weight. Group III (4 males and 4 females) received methylothiouracil injections in doses of 10 mg/kg of body-weight. Group IV was used for control purposes. The number of animals in this group was the same as for the previous groups. Half the animals in the control group did not receive any injections whereas the other half received an injection of 0.9 per cent sodium chloride solution in order to obviate the possibility of any change being brought about by the injections themselves.