THE CHOLESTEROL CONCENTRATION IN ADRENAL 

 GLANDS OF HYPOPHYSECTOMIZED-GRAFTED RATS 

 (WITH AND WITHOUT DESTROYED MEDIAN EMINENCE) 

 AFTER WHOLE-BODY EXPOSURE TO A LETHAL DOSE 



OF X-RAYS 



P. N. MARTINOVITCH, D. PAVIC, D. SLADIC-SIMIC and 



N. ZIVKOVIC 



Institute of Nuclear Sciences, "Boris Kidric", Beograd, Yugoslavia 



SUMMAEY 



It has been found that the pituitary transplants in hypophysectomized rats grafted 

 in a heterotopic position (anterior eye chamber) will restore to a considerable degree the 

 weight and the function of the testes and the adrenal glands. When these rats were exposed 

 to a whole-body lethal dose of X-rays (850 r) a significant fall in the concentration of 

 cholesterol m the adrenal glands was obtained. When the median eminence of hjrpophy- 

 sectomized-grafted rats was destroyed by a micro -coagulation technique and 3 months 

 later the experimental animals were exposed to 850 r of X-rays a fall in cholesterol v/as 

 obtained that was stiU significant but considerably lower than if the median eminence 

 were left mtact. Eesults obtained with testes after the median eminence had been destroy- 

 ed proved too inconsistent to aUow interpretation. 



The prevailmg opinion nowadays is that the anterior pituitary gland grafted 

 into positions distant from the hypothalamus will show very little gonadotro- 

 pic, adrenotropic and thyrotropic activity (Harris, 1955; Benoit and Assen- 

 macher, 1954). In collaboration with Mrs, D. Pavic (1960) we have found 

 that the anterior pituitaries of infantile rats grafted immediately following 

 hypophysectomy into the anterior eye chamber of 100 g rats will in about 

 75% of animals prevent the involution of the testes of the host and, if the 

 graftmg takes place one or two months following hypophysectomy, restore 

 the weight and the function of at least some of the glands. Similarly, a clear 

 cut restorative effect on the weight of the adrenal and the thyroid glands was 

 observed. The return of the hypophysectomized-grafted rats and of the endo- 

 crine glands under the pituitary control into their original hypophysectomized 

 state following the enucleation of the eyes containing grafts produced the 

 necessary evidence for the functional activity of the transplanted pituitaries 

 (Tables I, II). 



In a second series of experiments (Bacq et al., 1956a, b, 1957a, b; 

 Martinovitch, 1960; Martinovitch et al., 1961), the fall in cholesterol in the 

 adrenals of the hypophysectomized-grafted rats exposed to a whole-body 



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