THE PITUITARY BODY 



but presumably were low. The observations of Bennett 

 (1937) are difficult to evaluate. An extract of the anterior 

 pituitary causing stimulation of the adrenal cortex was found 

 to prevent a fall in the concentration of glycogen of muscle 

 of hypophysectomized rats, whereas it did not affect hepatic 

 glycogen or blood sugar. However, the effect was not attrib- 

 uted to adrenal cortical stimulating hormone. Treatment for 

 longer periods (10-24 days) did cause an elevation both of the 

 level of glucose in the blood and of the concentration of 

 hepatic glycogen. The effects of repeated injections of the 

 extract on the glucose of the blood and on the glycogen of 

 the liver did not appear in "demedullated," hypophysecto- 

 mized rats; but the author attributed this finding to cortical 

 deficiency rather than to loss of medullary tissue. 



Both the pituitary body and the adrenal glands have been 

 removed from rats by Corey and Britton (1937) and by 

 Samuels, Schott, and Ball (1937). Corey and Britton did not 

 fast their rats and found that doubly operated animals, in 

 comparison with hypophysectomized animals, were unable 

 to maintain the levels of blood sugar (64 mg. per cent com- 

 pared with 121 mg. per cent), muscle glycogen (0.24 per cent 

 compared with 0.43 per cent), or hepatic glycogen (0.23 per 

 cent compared with 0.94 per cent). According to Samuels 

 and his colleagues, the double operation did not affect glu- 

 cose tolerance (in comparison with the effect of hypophy- 

 sectomy alone) but, not remarkably, did hasten death when 

 fasting was instituted. Neither group of authors was in a 

 position to state the relative importance of the cortex and 

 medulla. 



Long and Lukens^^ have published further work on the 

 amelioration of pancreatic diabetes by adrenalectomy both in 

 cats and in dogs. The effects resemble those of hypophysec- 

 tomy in depancreatized animals to such an extent that it is 

 possible to raise the question of whether or not marked lower- 



^■t Long (1935), Long and Lukens (1936), Long (1937), and Long, Lukens, and 

 Dohan (1937). 



[ 220 ] 



