The Endocrinology of Spermatogenesis in Birds

SINCE the discovery of the gonadotrophic hormones, it has been suggested that the comparable component parts of the gonads of the two sexes were stimulated by the same factor. Thus in the female, the follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) was believed to stimulate the maturation of the ovum and in the male to stimulate spermatogenesis in the testis tubules. The term gametogenic hormone has been suggested in recognition of this common function in the two sexes. The second gonadotrophic factor called the luteinizing hormone (LH) in the female because it stimulated the growth of the corpus luteum and the interstitial cell stimulating hormone (ICSH) in the male influenced the growth and functional activity of the cells of Leydig. In a study of hypophysectomized cockerels, Nalbandov et al., (1946) determined the effect of relatively pure FSH and LH (or ICSH) upon the testes and the secretion of male hormone. Pure FSH produced . . .