Testosterone Stimulation of the Oviduct in Vitamin-Deficient Chicks1

ASTUDY of the inter-relationships of vitamin deficiencies, inanition, and estrogen stimulation of the chick oviduct has been reported in a previous paper (Kline and Dorfman, 1950, a). Since it was shown that animals suffering from inanition manifest a nonspecific resistance to hormonal stimulation, oviduct responses to estrogen in vitamin-deficient animals were therefore interpreted by comparison to the response of inanition controls in order to correct for the inanition which inevitably accompanies vitamin-deficiency states. Of the four vitamin-deficiency states investigated, only that of a deficiency of pteroylglutamic acid (PGA) resulted in a severe limitation of oviduct response to estrogen stimulation. This confirmed the findings of Hertz (1945). Since androgens are also capable of stimulating growth of the chick oviduct, a similar investigation of the inter-relationships of vitamin deficiencies, inanition and oviduct response to testosterone propionate has been made. The results indicate that oviduc...