THE INDUCTION OF AN ACID VAGINAL SECRETION IN THE IMMATURE MACAQUE BY INJECTIONS OF OESTRIN

Abstract

In 1928 Allen (1) demonstrated the remarkable histological changes that can be produced in the vaginal mucosa of the immature monkey by injections of oestrin. Five years later Lewis (2) showed that oestrin brought about similar changes in the vaginae of children, and reported favorable results in cases of gonorrheal vaginitis treated with oestrin. Since then others have confirmed these observations with reports (3) from their own clinics. It is unlikely that a mere histological change of the infected parts could be solely responsible for the destruction of the invading gonococci. In vitro gonococci grow best in a slightly alkaline medium with a H-ion concentration between pH 7.2 and pH 7.6. If the acidity becomes greater than pH 6 the culture will rarely survive. From our previous work on rodents it seemed likely to us that administering oestrin to children might bring about a change in the hydrogen ion concentration of their vaginal fluids such as normally occurs at puberty. At this time many layers of c...