SOME STUDIES ON ESTROGENS AND UTERINE PERMEABILITY

In recent years several reports have appeared which indicate remarkable early changes in the uterus of the spayed animal following estrogen administration. Roberts and Szego (1953) have shown that estradiol causes an elevation of aerobic and anaerobic glycolysis by the surviving uterine tissue of the spayed rat within four hours after injection of the hormone. The phenomenal increase in water content of the uterus in the immature rat following estrogen administra-tion has been made the basis of an assay technique by Astwood (1938). This early increase in water content reaches a maximum in six hours and may also be observed in the ovariectomized adult rat. The increase in water content has been correlated with an expansion of the extracellular space and of the relative cell volume by Cole (1950). Experiments reported by Mueller and Yanagi (1952) indicate an appreciable increase in the uptake of C’4 labeled-glycine by the uterus following estradiol administration. Attempts to explain the above and many other observations concerning uterine response to estrogens have been largely con-cerned with enzyme studies. Lieberman and Teich (1953) in a general discussio