The reaction of anæstrous hedgehogs to experimental conditions

Abstract

Male and female hedgehogs both have a well-defined anæstrus under natural conditions (Allanson, 1934, and Deanesly, 1934), and it seemed possible that this species, like the ferret, would retain the period of quiescence in the laboratory, and would thus be useful for work with gonad-stimulating preparations. Herlant (1932), who gives a full bibliography, attempted to stimulate male hedgehogs during anæstrus experimentally, with a view to proving the dependence of the secondary sexual characters on the interstitial cells of the testis and not on the germinal epithelium. He injected normal, unilaterally castrated and irradiated hedgehogs during the winter with urine of pregnancy, and obtained slight growth and histological changes in the accessory organs. The interstitial cells showed increased development, but the changes in the germinal epithelium were negligible. The extent of the reaction could be correlated roughly with the amount of urine of pregnancy injected. In this connection it should be noted that the injections described in the present paper corresponded to far larger quantities of urine of pregnancy than were used by Herlant.