Cyclic changes in the vaginal but not in the uterine mucosa of amenorrheic women, induced by a single injection of estrone and progesterone precipitates.

THE well known papers of Papanicolaou (1), and Papanicolaou and Shorr (2) demonstrated that the human vaginal mucosa, stimulatedby the gonadal hormones, undergoes cyclic changes which are demonstrablein the vaginal smear. The estradiol-induced proliferative phase and theestradiol-progesterone-induced progestational phase of the cycle manifestthemselves by characteristic modifications in the vaginal smear, whichmay, therefore, be used to establish the functional status of the ovary.The vaginal smear technique today represents one of the important routineprocedures of gynecologic diagnosis. We have raised the question whether the information provided by thevaginal smear on the functional status of the uterine mucosa is alwaysreliable and whether the substitution of the vaginal smear method for thehistologic examination of the uterine mucosa may be justified. The present observations were made on amenorrheic women. When a woman, castrated or suffering from longstanding amenorrhea, receives by injection a tot...