EFFECT OF OVINE GONADOTROPHINS AND ANTISERUM TO INTERSTITIAL CELL-STIMULATING HORMONE ON THE TESTIS OF THE HYPOPHYSECTOMIZED RAT

ABSTRACT Rabbit antiserum to ovine ICSH was administered to male Sprague-Dawley rats 2 months after hypophysectomy; further atrophy of the testis ensued. The interstitial tissue, the Sertoli cells, and the germ cells were adversely affected by the treatment. In the absence of gonadotrophins and exogenous androgen, spermatogenesis was nearly arrested. Ovine ICSH repaired the interstitial tissue and stimulated mitotic activity among the spermatogonia. Ovine FSH (NIH-FSH-S-1), containing approximately 1% ICSH activity, stimulated spermatid formation. When antiserum to ICSH was injected together with the FSH, no maturation divisions or spermatids were observed. The combination of FSH and ICSH, 100 μg of each per day injected for a period of 21 days, stimulated extensive and uniform tubular repair and advanced spermiogenesis to the acrosome phase; an enhancement in the secretion of androgen also was effected when FSH was given in combination with ICSH.