Histofunctional aspects of the rat adrenals following administration of ethinyl estradiol (histological study)
Breda, M.; Ciani, R.; Celeste, G.; Domenici, R.; Cipriani, E.
Bollettino della Societa Italiana di Biologia Sperimentale 54(1): 105-110
1978
ISSN/ISBN: 0037-8771 PMID: 737046 Document Number: 138690
The first animal experimental study of ethinyl estradiol [D13-ethyl-17.alpha.-ethinyl-17.beta.-hydroxy-4-gone-3-one] on the adrenal gland is reported, with results which cannot be clearly interpreted at this time. Female Wistar rats were chosen for the experiments; they received daily 0.0017 mg of the drug for 32 days, after which the adrenal was removed. Histologic examinations of the adrenal tissue showed a glomerular hypertrophy; the sinusoidal capillaries appeared dilated, the reticular portion compact. In the fasciculated portion the cells seem small, the nucleus hypertrophic and the cytoplasm finely granulated. There is no certainty that these changes are due to a direct action of the drug; the authors suggest that it may be necessary to postulate a pituitary component which might act on the adrenal to produce the changes observed.