AN OESTROGENIC EFFECT AS A COMPONENT OF THE STRESS SYNDROME

Abstract

ABSTRACT In a routine study of vaginal smears of postmenopausal women we had previously established the connection between a somatic or psychological stress on the one hand, and an increase in the number of superficial cells in the vaginal smears on the other. This phenomenon was further analyzed by a study of the vaginal smears of rats of the Wistar strain. Artificial stress was induced by swimming tests. Only a total stress proved adequate for our experiments. Stress produced an increase in the number of cornified cells in the vaginal smears of oophorectomized rats. This phenomenon failed to appear when the animals were subsequently adrenalectomized. In most instances hypophysectomy did not prevent this increase of cornified cells after stress. Bilateral removal of the adrenal medulla in oophorectomized animals reduced the number of animals which reacted positively to the stress. The effect was totally abolished when the animals were pretreated with phentolamine (Regitine) which completely blocks the sympathetic tissue. In spayed rats ACTH induced the appearance of cornified cells, but not after adrenalectomy or hypophysectomy. Adrenaline administration only rarely evoked a response. The vaginal smears were not influenced by the administration of testosterone, progesterone, cortisol, aldosterone or spirolactone. Oestrogens in a physiological dose brought about a prompt response. The results indicate that stress induces a release of oestrogens or oestrogenic substances from the adrenal cortex. The most important pathway seems to follow the sympathetic nervous system. As a hypothesis the pathway is suggested to proceed from the hypothalamus via the sympathetic tissue to the adrenal.