Theories

Abstract

In this last section, we shall survey the theories concerning the role of hormones in the maintenance of resistance in general, as well as current concepts concerning certain links in the mechanism of individual, hormonally controlled resistance phenomena. This chapter is based upon what we have learned from the entire literature on the subject as listed in all the other sections of this monograph. Hence, the abstracts supporting our discussion will often be found elsewhere in this book; only those of the most pertinent original publications are reproduced here. In agreement with the general principles that have guided us throughout this treatise, major emphasis will be placed upon the newly discovered catatoxic actions of steroids, particularly on their effect upon general resistance through the induction of hepatic enzymes. However, for comparative purposes, some resistance effects of syntoxic hormones and a few extrahepatic defense mechanisms will also be considered.