The horizontal-type high-voltage paper electrophoresis devised by Miyamoto and his collaborators became available for separation of thyroidal iodine compounds. With the use of the thyroid gland slices incubated with Na ¹³¹I (Naito) and the thyroid glands of Na ¹³¹I-injected rabbits (Araki), 9 and 13 radioactive bands were separated by running high-volatage (3,000 volt.) paper electrophoresis (pH 10.8), respectively. In this paper, the distribution of ¹³¹I radioactivity in the electrophoretically separated bands of thyroidal organic iodine compounds was quantitatively studied with the rabbits sacrificed at intervals (15 minutes-48 hours after the i.v. Na ¹³¹I injection).
Mature rabbits were given i.v. injection of Na ¹³¹I (100 μC. per ainmal), the thyroid glands extirpated at 15, 30, 60 minutes, 3, 6, 24, and 48 hours after the injection were minced, digested with trypsin, and extracted twice with 0.1 N HCl-saturated butanol. The combined butanol extracts were concentrated, and subjected to highvoltage paper electrophoresis at pH 10.8 (1/20 M boric acid-1 N NaOH) at 3,000 volt, which was followed by radioautography. The radioactive bands on each filter paper corresponding to radioautographic black bonds were cut out, and ¹³¹I-radioactivity was directly measured by a Well-type scintillation counter.
In the present investigation, the highest number of ¹³¹I-labeled band was 12, not including I^- (inorganic iodide) band. In a short time after the Na ¹³¹I injection, the number of radioactive bands readily amounted to 7-8 at 15 minutes, then increased to 10-12 at 1-3 hours, and remained as 10-12 bands to the end of experimental time (48 hours).
The percentage distribution of ¹³¹I radioactivity in all the detectable fractions of each thyroidal samples was determined. The radioactivity of the MIT fraction was dominant at 15 minutes, fell down to a small percent at 30 minutes, and reincreased at 60 minutes. The DIT fraction exhibited its peak of radioactivity at 30 minutes. The T₃ fraction did not show any detectable radioactivity at 15 and 30 minutes, while a considerable amount of radioactivity appeaeared in the T₄ fraction at 15 minutes. The changes in relative radioactivity of these 4 fractions were not significant after 1 hour to 48 hours. The other fractions did not show any meaningful changes. The similar tendencies were also demonstrated with 4 main thyroidal iodine compounds (MIT, DIT, T₃, and T₄) by recalculating the radioactivity distribution among these 4 fractions.
The results obtained in this paper are quite different from the increasing tendencies of ¹³¹I-incorporation to the T₃ and T₄ fractions of rat thyroid glands ever reported. The possible reasons for these essential differences are discussed with respect to animal species, and the analytical method

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The effect of a single rapid injection of synthetic thyrotropin-releasing factor (TRF) in doses of 50 and 100 μEg in 12 normal subjects and 41 patients with hypothalamopituitary disorders were evaluated by serial measurements of plasma levels of TSH. A rise in plasma TSH was detectable within 10 minutes after the administration of 50 and 100 ?Eg of TRF in all normal subjects, reaching maximum in 10 to 30 minutes. A normal increase in plasma TSH occurred in 7 out of 14 patients with operated pituitary chromophobe adenoma after receiving 50 or 100 ?Eg TRF. Two patients showed no rise in plasma TSH after receiving 50 or 100 ug of TRF but a normal rise after receiving 400 or 600 ug of TRF. This showed that the pituitary had a great TSH reserve and that itsidestruction was not on “all or none” way. No rise or a slight rise in plasma TSH levels occurred following the administration of 100 ug of TRF in patients with pituitary chromophobe adenoma who had a longstanding pituitary insufficiency and secondary hypothyroidism. However, some cases with craniopharyngioma, accompanied with low level of thyroid function, showed almost normal TSH response to TRF. Since the pituitary of these cases remained intact from tumor invasion, they should be postulated as tertiary (hypothalamic) hypothyroidism. All the patients who did not respond to TRF showed no GH response to insulin induced hypoglycemia, but some cases who showed no GH response to insulin induced hypoglycemia responded to TRF normally. This means that the secretion of GH was disturbed earlier than TSH.
There were many patterns of TSH response to TRF in hypothalamo-pituitary disorders. Therefore, it is necessary to take into consideration all the other endocrine conditions.

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In order to elucidate the growth and differentiation process of the rat ovary and its histogenesis, histochemical and autoradiographic 'studies on the ovarian morphogenesis have been performed, and the following findings have been obtained.
Histological findings : 1) After the neonatal stage, no germ cells could be observed. 2) On the seventh day after the birth the secondary follicles appeared besides the primordial follicles. 3) The tertiary follicles and the primary interstitial tissue appeared about 14 days after the birth. 4) The diameter of oocyte increased with growth of follicles and reached the peak in the tertiary follicles. 5) Vesicular follicles, atretic follicles, and secondary interstitial tissue emerged at about 21 days after the birth. 6) The atretic process of follicles could be classified in three types. The cells of the secondary interstitial tissue were found to come from thecal cells.
Histochemical findings : Increased lactic dehydrogenase activity was observed in the epithelium of primordial, primary and secondary follicles at about three and seven days after the birth. Glucose-6-phosphatase activity was very weak. Increased glucose-6- phosphatase activity, however, was observed in the tertiary follicles. This suggests that anaerobic glycolytic system plays the main role in the carbohydrate metabolism of the small follicular epithelium. In the interstitial cells and thecal cells, in addition to intense steroid 3?A-Ol dehydrogenase and glucose-6-phosphatase activity the presence of lipid granules could be demonstrated.
Autoradiographical findings : 1) By the migration method, it could be clarified that the follicular and thecal cells come from undifferentiated stromal cells and that the primary interstitial tissue comes from undifferentiated stromal cells. 2) When examined by the pulse labeling method, the follicular epithelium incorporation of ₃H-thymidine was low in the primordial and primary follicles, but rose with the growth of the follicles. The incorporation of 'H-thymidine, however, decreased in cyst-formed large follicles. The incorporation was noted in the primary but not in the secondary interstitial tissue. In view of the findings that the incorporation of interstitial cells decreased with the rise of the animal's age, it may be presumed that gain in weight of ovarian connective tissue is not necessarily due to the preliferation of mesenchym in situ.

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Recently the following decapeptide sequence for porcine luteinizing releasing hormone (LRH) was proposed by Schally's group : (pyro) Glu-His-Trp-Ser-Tyr-Gly-Leu-Arg-Pro-Gly-NH₂. According to this report, many investigators have succeeded in synthetizing LRH and this synthetic LRH is now available for clinical study. Then, synthetic LRH of Daiichi Pharmaceutical Company, Tokyo, Japan was tested in the human being. Two hundred micrograms of synthetic LRH was injected into the following 8 women and serum LH responce was tested by double antibody radioimmunoassay (RIA) : 2 volunteers of follicular phase, 2 volunteers of luteal phase, 2 anovulatory females of amenorrhea with estrogenic activity and 2 anovulatory females of amenorrhea without estrogenic activity. Single iv injection of 200 micrograms of synthetic LRH induced a significant increase in LH release into the blood within 30 minutes in 7 of 8 subjects. Only one exception was a case of hypopituitarism and no responce of LH release was to be found after injection. This study demonstrate that synthetic LRH will be utilized effectively for the study on the function of hypothalamo-pituitary gonadal axis. Moreover, induction of ovulation by synthetic LRH and inhibition of ovulation by antibody of LRH is promising in the human being.

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