Absence of adrenal influence on ovarian graft activity in male rats castrated at birth.

1. An investigation was made to see whether the presence of the adrenal gland was necessary for cyclical activity of ovarian transplants in adult male rats which had been castrated at birth.2. Rats were castrated on the day of birth or at 6-8 weeks of age and when 3 months old were adrenalectomized and had a transplant of immature ovary placed in the anterior chamber of one eye. Control animals were subjected to the same procedure apart from adrenalectomy.3. Transplants in rats castrated at birth were observed to undergo full cyclical activity, with follicular rupture and the formation of corpora lutea. Transplants in rats castrated at 6-8 weeks of age did not cycle and corpora lutea were not formed.4. Adrenalectomy did not influence the behaviour of the ovarian transplants.5. It is concluded that the presence of the adrenal gland was not necessary to support cyclical activity in ovarian tissue transplants in male rats castrated at birth.