INHIBITION OF OVULATION AND CHANGES IN OVARIAN MUCOPOLYSACCHARIDES INDUCED BY THYROIDECTOMY IN RABBITS

Abstract

ABSTRACT Radical surgical thyroidectomy in rabbits, restricts the ability of the ovaries to ovulate following mating. Nine out of 20 thyroidectomized rabbits had severe polycystic ovaries. The ovaries of mated thyroid-ectomized rabbits had a higher content of water, corresponding to a given hexosamine concentration, than the ovaries of non-mated thyroidectomized, and of intact rabbits. After ovulation, the follicular fluid changed from metachromatic to orthochromatic in the thyroidectomized rabbits. These findings are discussed in relation to the theory that pre-ovulatory growth of the follicles is due to an increase in the colloid-osmotic pressure within the follicles caused by enzymatic depolymerization of acid mucopolysaccharides.