Bücher der Reihe Monographs on Endocrinology

Research on the hormonal control oflactation - the subject of this monograph - has long been the major interest of this laboratory. the intensification of studies on normal mammogenesis to establish a sound basis for studies on mammary cancer;

Larvae that become attached to the proboscis of an adult female become males, while unattached larvae sink to the bottom and become females (BALTZER, 1935). The more sophisticated state of bisexuality was initiated by setting aside a particular pair of chromosomes for specialization and making either the male or the female a heterogametic sex.

Although a role of the nervous system was recognized for the reflex-like induction of ovulation in rabbits and cats and the in duction of pseudopregnancy in rats and mice, and although there was even some evidence of neural participation in ovulation in rats, a major central neural role in the female cycle of most species was not apparent.

The account of "neonatal sterilization" is the story of the advocates of direct effect of steroids on the gonads and those who believed in the indirect influence, mediated through the hypothalamus and/or the pituitary gland.

This book originates from a symposium held at the London Hospital Medical College under the auspices of Applied Chromatography Systems Ltd. It seemed to us that many endocrinolo gists did not at that time fully appreciate the value of HPLC, and this book was designed to publicise the potential value of this technique.

It took approximately 90 years to isolate this elusive vital factor - cortisone - from beef adrenal cortices, independently by both Reichstein and his co-workers in Basle and Kendall and his group in the United States and another 10-15 years before it became more generally available for experimental and clinical use.

This monograph brings together our work concerning the relationships be tween the hypothalamus, pituitary and testis.

Dr. Raymond Pederson, Dr. Jill Dryburgh and I commenced work on GIP in 1968, when, with the generous help of Professor Viktor Mutt and Professor Erik Jorpes of the Karolinska Inst,itute, Stockholm, we were able to establish that there existed an inhibitory material for acid secretion in cholecystokinin-pancreozymin prepara tions.

This can partly be explained by the fact that human growth hormone isolated in 1961, is itself a potent lactogen, in contrast to nonprimate growth hormones, and is present in the normal human pituitary in much greater amounts than prolactin.

This monograph represents the first comprehensive review of hormones in human amniotic fluid and includes data published up to and including 1980. Methods of Isolation and Identification of Steroids in Human Amniotic Fluid 6 I. C , C , and C Steroids .

Plasma androgen assay, free testosterone measurement, hepatic and extrahepatic androgen metabolic clearance and androgen metabolism in the skin are the different steps which were studied by many groups and represent valuable parameters of the mechanisms of hirsutism.

The physiology and metabolism of thyroid hormones were areas of intense research investigation during the 1970s. A list of over 500 references, although probably still incomplete, should lead a reader to at least a few important articles in each area relevant to thyroid hormone physiology.

The cytochemical bioassay system was described in a short abstract in 1971, and more fully, in the cytochemical bioassay of corticotrophin, in 1972.

The building of conceptual models is an inherent part of our interaction with the world, and the foundation of scientific investigation. These machines not only provide increased speed and accuracy in determining the consequences of model assumptions, but also greatly extend the range of problems which can be explored.

Because diseases of the bone are often less acute and less lifethreatening than dis eases of the circulatory system, gastrointestinal tract, kidney, liver, and the nervous system, they have received a disproportionately smaller amount of attention in the medical world.

Had Escherichia coli of 200 million years or so ago been endowed with the foresight to anticipate the eventual emergence of and subsequent dominance by mammals of this Earth, they would no doubt have equipped themselves, in anticipation of the coming cer tainty, with the lac operon to deal with lactose in the suckling mammalian infant's gut.

Finally this is an appropriate time to express my sincere gratitude to those scientists who over the years have given me samples of prostaglandins-namely Professors S.BERGSTROM and B.SAMUELSSON of the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Professor D.

Soon after the discovery of insulin in 1922, it became clear that the use of this hormone in the treatment of diabetics is often accom panied by allergy.

With some en thusiasm, I responded, "On steroid hormones, because I am struck by the profound effects that may be achieved by relatively small numbers of molecules. Suitably chastened, I finally began my research career investigating the effects of steroids on the nucleic acid metabolism of experimental tumours and on the process cells.

When I was first ap proached by Springer-Verlag regarding a monograph on my interests in the area of fetal lung development, I imagined that it would be relatively easy to summarize my contributions, plus the work of other investigators as needed for proper perspective.

The first chapters, therefore, take the reader to the laboratories of those who very early conceived the significance of the attachment of dyes, drugs, and other conspicuous molecules to those colloids called proteins.

Much of the responsibility for this state of affairs must rest with a system that tends to reward quantity rather than quality of publications, and on the resulting misap prehension that the aim of scientific research is the gathering of data rather than the advancement of knowledge.

Few fields have advanced faster over the past quinquennium than separation and estimation of steroids by the technique of gas phase chromatography.

The purpose of this monograph is to describe theoretical aspects of the interpretation of data obtained from experiments performed with labeled hormones.