Chapter XX 



OTHER CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS OF THE 

 ADRENALS 



Besides epinephrine and the cortical hormone, which we 

 have considered in previous chapters, the adrenals contain a 

 number of other compounds in relatively high concentrations. 

 The presence of these constituents of the adrenals has excited 

 the curiosity of many observers who have attributed to them 

 an importance which the factual evidence at hand does not 

 justify. In every tissue are found numerous compounds the 

 significance of which to the animal economy is unknown. 

 Many of these compounds (e.g., the lipids) are an essential 

 part of the structure of the cell. The presence of others is 

 perhaps incidental and dependent upon solubility relationships. 

 Substances will distribute themselves throughout the organism 

 in accordance with the physico-chemical laws of solution. 

 Hence a lipid-soluble vitamin will be concentrated in glands 

 having a high lipid content rather than in muscular or con- 

 nective tissues. The mere presence of a compound in the 

 adrenals does not therefore justify the assumption that it is 

 necessary for the proper function of these glands or that it is 

 produced by these glands. In the present chapter we shall 

 consider a group of substances found in the adrenals and 

 evaluate the available evidence as to the significance of their 

 presence in the glands. 



The isolation of a chemical compound from the adrenals does 

 not prove that it was present in the normal gland for its pres- 

 ence may be the result of post-mortem changes or of the chemical 

 manipulations utilized in its isolation. The adrenal is note- 

 worthy for the rapidity with which it undergoes autolytic 

 changes. If one extracts a fresh gland with a solvent such as 

 alcohol or acetone the solution thus obtained is light yellow 



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