Ovariectomy of adult mice exposed prenatally to diethylstilbestrol.

Mice exposed prenatally to diethylstilbestrol (DES) were ovariectomized at 5-10 weeks of age, or at 15 months of age. They were maintained to old age and studied for incidence of DES-related pathologic changes. Uterine metaplasia and adenomyosis were not seen after early ovariectomy, but adenomyosis persisted after late ovariectomy. No adenocarcinomas of the genital tract were found in 30 mice ovariectomized early, or in 18 mice ovariectomized at 15 months of age. This result is significantly different from the 14% frequency of genital tract adenocarcinomas reported previously in non-ovariectomized mice of this strain exposed prenatally to DES.