THE PITUITARY BODY 



balance studies indicated that doubly operated dogs might 

 oxidize as much as i6 gm, of glucose per day. Despite the 

 absence of insulin, hypophysectomized-depancreatized dogs 

 can deposit glycogen in the liver — even in excess of 2 per 

 cent (Chaikoff, Gibbs, Holtom, and Reichert, 1936). These 

 authors also concluded that insulin is essential for the sur- 

 vival of the doubly operated dog but that survival is long 

 if the animal is in an excellent nutritional condition at the 

 time of operation. Chaikoff and his colleagues observed in 

 hypophysectomized-depancreatized dogs all the changes 

 characteristic of pancreatic diabetes, including ketonuria. 

 However, Soskin and others (1935) denied that ketonuria 

 can be detected in such animals. 



Interrelationships of the pars glandularis and other glands 

 of internal secretion in affecting carbohydrate metabolism.^^ 

 I . The adrenals. — Problems which have interested investiga- 

 tors in this complex field are illustrated by experiments which 

 Houssay and Biasotti undertook in the toad, Bufo arenarum. 

 They relied on quantitative determinations of the blood 

 sugar to measure changes in carbohydrate metabolism. Some 

 fall in the concentration of sugar in the blood appeared after 

 the destruction of all adrenal tissue. Diabetes caused by 

 pancreatectomy was less pronounced, in terms of the level 

 of blood sugar, if either hypophysectomy or adrenalectomy 

 also was performed. In either case, the administration of an- 

 terior pituitary but not of adrenal cortical extract caused a 

 further elevation of the level of the blood sugar. The findings 

 were similar if all three structures were removed. The au- 

 thors suggest the possibility that adrenalectomy may favor- 

 ably influence the course of diabetes because it lessens the 



" It appears that for purposes of discussion there is still too little experimental 

 basis for understanding the manner in which the central nervous system — especially 

 the hypothalamus — affects carbohydrate metabolism, as this is related to the func- 

 tional activity of the anterior pituitary, the adrenal medulla, and the pancreas. 

 References to recent work in this field are the following: Davis, Cleveland, and 

 Ingram (1935); Dawson and Milne (1935); Houssay (1935); Cleveland and Davis 

 (1936); Ingram and Barris (1936); Lucke (1937). 



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