Gonads and Experimental Tuberculosis

RESULTS, obtained to date, by different authors on the investigation of the influence of the sexual organs in experimental tuberculosis vary very much indeed. Mautner¹ and Bricker² admit that castration prolongs the life of the inoculated animals, whereas Brack and Gray³ and Long and Vogt⁴ deny such results. Vercesi and Merenda⁵, Gray and Brack⁶ and Long and Vogt⁴ maintain that injection of æstrogens does not modify the course of experimental tuberculosis. Carnes and Biskind⁷, who administered testosterone, reach the same conclusion. Most of these investigations have been carried out with very small groups of animals, and in others the results have been observed a few days after the inoculation; thus it has not been possible to define with precision the reaction of the animals to the tuberculous infection. Studies were carried out by us in the guinea pig to establish not only the type of pathological lesions, but also the survival-rate of the animals. These animals were grouped in the following manner: 20 castrated animals, 10 males and 10 females; 20 non-castrated females, which were injected intra-peritoneally with 50 µgm. of æstradiol dipropionate three times a week; 20 non-castrated males, injected intraperitoneally with 250 µgm. of testosterone pro-pionate three times a week; 20 control animals. All these animals were injected subcutaneously with 1 c.c. of an emulsion which contained 0.1 mgm. of tubercle bacilli of the human type.