PARS GLANDULARIS AND ADRENAL GLANDS 



The methods which have been used for the assay of adrenal 

 cortical stimulating extract have received no careful quanti- 

 tative study. LInquestionably, hypophysectomized animals 

 should be used, if there is to be the least possible doubt as 

 to the specificity of the effects. Reiss and others (1936), 

 Collip (1937), and Moon (1937) have all used hypophysec- 

 tomized rats for assay and usually have relied upon both the 

 gross change — hypertrophy — and microscopic evidences of 

 repair — especially the reappearance of lipoids distributed 

 generally. Methods based upon the use of normal mice or 

 rats have been described by Jores and Beck (1936) and by 

 Moon (1937). 



THE METABOLISM OF CARBOHYDRATES IN RELATION 

 TO THE PARS GLANDULARIS 



Great interest in the importance of the pituitary body in 

 carbohydrate metabolism was aroused by Houssay and 

 Biasotti, who discovered that the course of diabetes following 

 pancreatectomy in the dog is greatly ameliorated by re- 

 moval of the hypophysis. Without doubt the extirpation of 

 the pars glandularis is responsible for this change. The prob- 

 lem, in general terms, is: How and to what extent is the 

 metabolism of carbohydrates regulated by the pars glandu- 

 laris? Numerous aspects of this problem have been studied, 

 especially since 1934. However, it will be seen that our 

 knowledge of the mechanisms in operation is still regrettably 

 limited. 



The metabolism of carbohydrates after h\poph\sectomv. — 

 Previous work had demonstrated several important changes 

 consequent to hypophysectomy — i.e., the blood sugar of fast- 

 ing animals falls to abnormally low levels; the sensitivity 

 toward insulin is greatly increased; the regulation both of the 

 absorption of glucose and of the formation and degradation 

 of glycogen is disturbed. 



If animals are fed adequate amounts of carbohydrate, the 

 concentration of sugar in the blood is not strikingly different 



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