Specific suppression of follicle-stimulating hormone secretion in gonadectomized male and female rats with intrasplenic ovarian transplants.

Adult male and female rats received an ovarian homotransplant under the kidney capsule or in the spleen 14 days after gonadectomy. After transplantation under the kidney capsule, the high levels of both LH and FSH normally observed after gonadectomy decreased to the levels found in intact male and female rats. After transplantation into the spleen, however, the serum levels of LH increased still further, although a decrease was observed in the level of FSH. In male rats, the concentrations of oestradiol-17beta in the plasma increased from 17 to 56 pg/ml after transplantation of an ovary under the kidney capsule; the concentration was not increased after intrasplenic ovarian transplantation. In female rats with an intrasplenic transplant, the uterine weight did not increase and vaginal smears were not cornified. Administration of oestrogen and progesterone to produce approximately the concentrations found in rats with an intrasplenic transplant did not result in decreased concentrations of FSH. These results suggest that the ovary secretes a substance with specific FSH-suppressing activity, which is not inactivated by the liver.