Pineal compounds with antigonadotropic activity.

The work presents the experimental data reported by specialty literature as well as those reported by the authoress on studying the pineal substances with antigonadotropic activity, namely the indole compounds and pineal polypeptides. The effects observed after administration of melatonin--prototype of the pineal-indole family--and of more or less purified pineal extracts are presented. The matter discussed upon is whether or not melatonin or arginine-vasotocin are the pineal hormones responsible for the complex actions induced by the pineal extracts.