ABSTRACTS 385
Experiments on the use of chronic gonadotrophin (pregnancy urine extract)
for the treatment of sterility in dairy cattle. A. C. BOTTOMLEY, S. J.
FOLLEY AND HELEN M. SCOTT WATSON (1940). J. Agri. Sci. 30, 235.
T HE authors have pointed out that in England the sales of dairy cows at the peak
of their productivity due to sterility are equal to the combined loss from recognized
tuberculosis, contagious abortion and udder troubles. The magnitude of the loss to
dairy farmers from bovine sterility is often not fully realized. Non-infectious sterility
not due to anatomical defects, and obvious deficiencies in nutrition or management
may be due to endocrine disturbances and might be expected to respond to hormone
therapy. On such cases the authors experimented with human pregnancy urine extract
which was a specially concentrated preparation of Antuitrin " S " standardized at 500
rat units per c. c. (henceforward referred to as P. U.) supplied by Dr J. Stanley White
of Messrs Parke Davis and Co.
The fertility of three sterile pedigree bulls, the semen of which showed a deficiency
in sperm number together with absence of motility, was restored by two intramuscular
injections of 2 c. c. P. U. at 4-5 days interval. Their semen returned to normal and
contained a large number of highly motile sperms. It was thought probable that this
condition might be due to hypofunction of the epididymis, which in turn might be due
to failure of the interstitial tissue of the testes to secrete androgens, and P. U. produced
beneficial results as pregnancy urine gonadotrophin stimulates the interstitial cells and
thus indirectly the accessory organs.
Even in the absence of cystic ovaries or a persistent corpus luteum, cows may fail
to come into oestrus. In such cases sterility may be due either to a low rate of secre-
tion of gonadotrophic factors by the pituitary, causing ovarian inactivity, or to a wrong
balance of the follicle-stimulating and luteinizing hormones leading to a disturbance
of the normal ovarian cycle. It was considered that on the basis of experiments on other
species treatment with P. U. might induce oestrus in a proportion of such cows. Three
out of five cows responded within 24 hours to intravenous injections of 5 c. c. P. U. and
one out of four to an injection of 3 c. c. P.U. Two out of five cows responded imme-
diately to a series of three intramuscular injections of 2 c. c. P. U. and one cow responded
to a single intramuscular injection of 2 c. c. P. U. In addition four cows failed to res-
pond immediately to four intramuscular injections of 2 c. c. P. U. As far as can be
seen from the limited number of animals used, intravenous administration is more likely
to succeed than intramuscular and 5 c. c. would appear to be necessary in most cases.
Such high doses may, however, sometimes produce anaphylactic shock when given intra-
venously, despite the fact that the protein content of P. U. is so small that it cannot
be detected by ordinary reagents.
Probably, the failure to respond to P.U. injections was due to the lack of sufficiently
ripe follicles in the ovary, and it is possible that injections of pregnant mare's serum,
which is rich in follicle-stimulating hormone, followed by luteinizing extract (P. U.)
would have induced oestrus in these cases.
It was observed that service at the heat induced by P. U. proved fertile in one case
only, but in other successful cases the injections served to re-activate the ovaries and
pregnancy followed subsequent services.
Certain cows may show a regular oestrus but nevertheless fail to conceive. It is
believed that the condition might be due to partial lack of luteal tissue and therefore
to deficiency of progesterone, in which case conditions in the uterus would be unfavour-
able for implantation of the fertilized egg. In some cases, possibly, ovulation fails to
occur because of an insufficient secretion of luteinizing hormone by the anterior pitui-
tary. Either of these conditions might be expected to benefit by treatment with P.U.
and the authors have produced experimental evidence to show that treatment with
P. U. at the time of service increases the fertility of such cows.
[R.
L. K.]
Transmission of tuberculosis from man to cattle Extract from The Lancet, 9, 419.
T HE transmission of tuberculosis from cattle to man is so much more important than
the reverse that the possibility of dairy cattle being infected by their attendants will
be a new conception to many. It is true that the Public Health (Prevention of Tuberculo-
sis) Regulations of 1925 prohibit the employment in a dairy of persons suffering from