24 Alfred Jost 



submitted to biochemical analysis, one may wonder whether 

 at that stage the enzymic assortment of the liver cells under- 

 goes a change and becomes adequate for storing glycogen. 



Studies were undertaken to determine whether the change 

 in the liver glycogen storage is hormonally controlled (see 

 Jost, 1954). Measurements were made on decapitated rabbit 

 and rat foetuses. Only the former will be considered here. 

 It was first observed that in rabbit foetuses decapitated on day 

 nineteen, the glycogen content was very low on day twenty- 

 eight in comparison with litter mate controls (respectively 

 1-58 ±0-85 mg./g. and 20 -06 ±3 -33 mg./g. of fresh tissue; 

 Jost and Hatey, 1949). The same result is also observed in all 

 foetuses decapitated before or on day twenty-four and killed 

 on days twenty-six to twenty-eight (Fig. 1 ; Jost and Jacquot, 

 1954, 1955). 



In attempting to discover what hormonal factor was 

 responsible for glycogen storage, different hormones were 

 administered at the moment of decapitation. The detailed 

 results will be presented elsewhere (Jost and Jacquot, 1955); 

 briefly, it was observed that ACTH (Organon), in a dose of 

 2 to 8 mg. inserted under the skin, permits glycogen de- 

 position in the decapitates, either at a normal or at a sub- 

 normal level, in fourteen out of sixteen treated foetuses. Two 

 of these foetuses were thyroidectomized-decapitated, and 

 they also gave positive results. An attempt was then made 

 to obtain glycogen storage with corticoid hormones: no 

 positive result was obtained with cortisone (3*5 mg.), hydro- 

 cortisone (3-7 or 4-1 mg.), desoxycorticosterone acetate (2 

 mg.), or 9-a-fluorohydrocortisone (25 y.g.; high doses seem to 

 be lethal), nor with the association of cortisone or hydro- 

 cortisone with DOCA or with 1 u. of insulin, or with 50 to 

 90 (jig. of thyroxine nor with a small amount of growth 

 hormone. Although only a small number of experiments have 

 been carried out in each case, it is curious to notice that no 

 other hormone than ACTH was found to permit glycogen 

 deposition. If the adrenal glands are involved, one cannot 

 discard the possibility that they produce some other com- 



