Examination of 150 to 200 samples of the ependymal lining of the ventricles of nine adult human brains obtained 2(1/2) to 6 hours post-mortem revealed cilia in at least 20 separate sites in the four ventricular cavities. In seven of the brains ciliary motion was evident, and in two of these it was wide-spread and rapid. It seems likely that the adult human ventricular ependyma is ciliated throughout. Currents having distinct patterns are induced in the ventricles of animal brains by ciliary motion, and such currents probably exist in man. A local mechanism for the rapid movement of cerebrospinal fluid is therefore present.

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SUMMARY1. A method for the routine collection of hypophysial portal blood from rats under direct vision has been described.2. This method has been used to obtain portal blood from adult female rats in pro-oestrus and adult female rats which had been hypophysectomized at least 14 days before collection.3. The pooled plasma from this blood was assayed for activity, resembling that of luteinizing hormone releasing factor (LRF), by the ovarian ascorbic acid depletion method.4. The portal plasma from both groups of donor animals exhibited significant activity when compared to peripheral plasma controls.5. It is concluded that the ovarian ascorbic acid depleting activity of portal plasma was due to LRF.6. The possibility that some of the activity exhibited by portal plasma from pro-oestrous rats was due to contamination of the samples by LH containing backflow blood from pituitary sinusoids is discussed.7. The possibility that the ovarian ascorbic acid depleting activity of the hypophysial portal plasma was due to either vasopressin or a nonspecific factor has been excluded.

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