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We made an investigation of implantation traces in delivered rats. 1. Non-fixed rat uteri were immersed in 2%-NaOH solution for over one hour. The uteri were then cleared and the implantation traces were seen to be stained yellowish-brown. This staining method was convenient for observation of the implantation traces. 2. Stillbirth was induced by stabbing or crushing, either in some embryos on one day between the 6th and 12th day of gestation, or in all embryos after the 13th day of gestation. Also, abortion was induced by stabbing or crushing all embryos before the 10th day of gestation. 3. When live embryos existed in the uterine horns, abortion traces were not detected. 4. In cleared uteri stained with 2%-NaOH solution, abortion traces were observed as small globes, reddish-brown. Normal delivery traces were observed as large globes, yellowish-brown, covered with yellowish-white of agglomerate cells, while stillbirth traces appeared as middle-sized, orange or yellowish-brown masses. 5. Though the implantation traces in rats which had been delivered four times were arranged like beads, they were recognizable by NaOH stain as either old or new traces, the former appearing smaller without agglomerate cells and a little more brown in comparison with the latter. 6. As the implantation traces increased in the uterine horns they became distributed from the central region to the cervical end, and the mean space between them narrowed. The implantation traces occupying the ovarian end or central region of the uterine horns trendes smallest size or largest size. 7. The implantation traces were composed of cicatrical tissue, and the area they occupied did not show adhesion of the placenta. On the other hand, placenta adhering to the uterine wall proliferated, and formed new implantation traces which did not overlap the old traces after decollement of the placenta.

The present study was designed to determine the characteristics of the progesterone receptor and chromatin binding site ("acceptor") of the progesterone-receptor complex in the rabbit uterus. The uterus was obtained from an estrogen-primed immature female rabbit. The binding of progesterone to the uterine receptor was examined in vitro. The progesterone-receptor binding was reduced only by proteases, and phosphorus moiety may not be related for progesterone-receptor binding. The effects of enzymes on the acceptor of the chromatin were investigated. The progesterone-receptor complex was bound to the dehistonized chromatin. The dehistonized chromatins, which were pretreated with enzymes at 4 degrees C or 37 degrees C for 30 minutes, were incubated with 3H-progesterone prelabeled uterine cytosol at 4 degrees C for 30 minutes, and the radioactivity in the chromatin pellet was counted. Proteases effectively decreased the receptor binding capacity to the dehistonized chromatin in the following order: pronase greater than trypsin greater than papain greater alpha-chymotrypsin. DNAse moderately and phospholipase A slightly decreased its binding capacity. The results may indicate that the acceptor site of the progesterone receptor is nonhistone protein over DNA of chromatin and may contain phosphorus moiety.

Vaginal smears of 21 patients with malignant ovarian tumors were examined. In 5 cases malignant cells were present: 1 mucinous cystadenocarcinoma, 2 poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas, 1 clear cell carcinoma, and 1 adenoid squamous cell carcinoma arising in a dermoid cyst. Cytomorphology of tumor cells in tissue specimens and imprint, ascites, aspirate uterine corpus, cervical canal and vaginal smears were examined. The ovarian malignant cells of the vaginal smears were grouped, round or oval with eccentric round or oval nuclei having a finely granular chromatin pattern regularly distributed, and with vesicular or vacuolated cytoplasm. Tumor diathesis appeared in 1 of 5 cases. Two post-menopausal patients showed an increase of superficial cells in the maturation index. In the comparison of malignant cells taken from different locations, vaginal tumor cells were similar to those in ascites. Since ascites smears were reported to be useful for the diagnosis of some kinds of ovarian tumors, it was expected that vaginal smears might also have this potentiality.