Synergism Between Pituitary Extracts and Chorionic Gonadotropins

Abstract

Therapeutic attempts to utilize gonadotropins for the correction of menstrual disorders have not proved to be quite satisfactory. Clinical ineffectiveness in a considerable percentage of the patients, on the one hand, and the danger of ovarian impairment, cystic or atretic changes, on the other, have not increased the popularity of gonadotropic therapy. Empirical clinical observations, however, have shown that the effectiveness of chorionic gonadotropins is augmented by simultaneous administration of pituitary extracts (1, 2). Thus it is possible to reduce the dosage of chorionic gonadotropin and minimize the undesirable alterations of the ovarian tissues. The synergism between anterior lobe extracts and the chorionic factor was experimentally demonstrated by Evans et al. (3), Fevold et al. (4) and others. The increase in the effectiveness of the chorionic gonadotropin, according to the prevalent belief, is brought about by the pituitary gonadotropins, although the exclusive role of the latter in the process of synergism was questioned repeatedly.