ADRENALECTOMY 149 



survival of rats adrenalectomized during estrus is longer than 

 those operated during diestrus but this has not been proven. 



ADRENALECTOMY IN VARIOUS ANIMAL SPECIES 



Fishes. Adrenalectomy in fishes has a particular interest 

 because of the separation of the interrenal and chromaphil 

 tissues as distinct organs. They thus offer a natural separation 

 of the compound organ of the higher animals. 



Pettit 498 performed the first operations on eels but his 

 extirpations were only partial and were intended to demon- 

 strate hypertrophy in the remaining fragments. Biedl 86 ex- 

 tirpated the interrenal bodies of the torpedo. He observed 

 expansion of the melanophores, a gradually increasing muscular 

 weakness which progressed until the animals could no longer 

 turn, muscular convulsions, opisthotonus, a decrease in the 

 respiratory rate, and death in 3 to 7 days. These experi- 

 ments demonstrated the indispensability for life of the in- 

 terrenal bodies in this species. In the eel, on the other hand, 

 Vincent 647 found that the extirpation of the interrenal bodies 

 did not result in death but Giacomini's 218 demonstration 

 of accessory interrenal tissue in this species explains Vincent's 

 results. 



Recent observations 353 have confirmed the earlier work of 

 Biedl. The difficulties involved in performing interrenalec- 

 tomy in fishes render the observed results open to the objection 

 that they are to be attributed to operative shock. Main- 

 tenance of the adrenalectomized fish with a supply of the 

 cortical hormone until it has recovered from the operation 

 would remove the basis for this objection. 



Frog. Adrenalectomy in frogs is difficult to perform due to 

 the close attachment of the adrenals to the kidneys (Figure 1). 

 Complete removal of the glands, which is best accomplished by 

 the thermo-cautery, necessarily involves renal injury. The 

 operation, first performed by Abelous and Langlois 3 in 1891, 

 has been carried out by many subsequent observers. The 



