PARS GLANDULARIS AND ADRENAL GLANDS 



Perla (1935-36) and Perla and Rosen (1935) have re- 

 ported new experiments indicating that the increased toxicity 

 of histamine in hypophysectomized rats is due to a deficiency 

 of adrenal cortical hormone resulting from the absence of 

 cortical-stimulating hormone. According to Selye and Collip 

 (1936), large doses of oestrone or the administration of for- 

 maldehyde bring about hypertrophy of the adrenal cortex of 

 the rat. These changes appear to be due to the increased 

 liberation of adrenal cortical stimulating hormone, because 

 they cannot be produced in hypophysectomized rats. 



Some aspects of the metabolism oj adrenal cortical stimulating 

 hormone. — Several authors have shown that the pars glandu- 

 laris must be intact if compensatory hypertrophy of an 

 adrenal is to take place after the other has been removed. 

 Reiss, Balint, and Aronson (1936) found that compensatory 

 hypertrophy amounts to about 95 per cent if partial hypo- 

 physectomy has been performed, whereas in normal animals 

 the compensatory hypertrophy is only 20 per cent. Ap- 

 parently operative trauma is followed by changes facilitating 

 the formation or liberation of adrenal cortical stimulating 

 hormone. The adrenal cortices of the female rat are con- 

 siderably larger than those of the male. This suggests that 

 the female pituitary liberates more cortical-stimulating hor- 

 mone than the male. This hypothesis was tested by Wyman 

 and tum Suden (1937) by determining the survival of homo- 

 transplants. Regeneration of such transplants occurred in 

 71 per cent of female recipients but in only 20 per cent of 

 male recipients. The sex of the donor appeared not to affect 

 the results. These authors also showed (1937) that the suc- 

 cessful transplantation of the adrenal requires pituitary se- 

 cretion. The adrenal of the hypophysectomized rat can be 

 successfully transplanted into a normal rat. Regeneration of 

 a transplant is particularly favored by adrenal insufficiency 

 (Wyman and tum Suden, Ingle and Higgins), probably be- 

 cause the rate of formation and liberation of cortical-stimu- 



203 



