288 CORTEX 



striated muscles contained only 3.1 and 0.7 mgms. per gram, 

 respectively. In the rat, Houssay and Mazzoco 314 found the 

 adrenals to contain 12 mgms. of glutathione per gram of gland. 

 The venous blood draining the adrenals is particularly rich in 

 glutathione. Perfusion of an adrenal with solutions contain- 

 ing glutamic acid and cystine gives rise to the synthesis of 

 glutathione, according to Blanchetiere and his coworkers. 62 

 On the other hand, Houssay and Mazzoco 3 ' 4 found the reducing 

 action of muscle and liver to be increased after adrenalectomy 

 which they attribute to an increased glutathione content of 

 these tissues. Obviously one would not expect such a result if 

 the adrenals were the site of synthesis of glutathione. Further 

 work is necessary to elucidate the exact relation between the 

 adrenals and glutathione metabolism. 449 



A crystalline compound, having the empirical formula — 

 C35H74O8N2S, has been obtained from the adrenals but the 

 evidence adduced is so meager as to lead one to doubt that the 

 compound is in reality a pure substance. Elementary sulfur 

 is easily eliminated from the compounds in which it occurs in 

 the adrenals. Deposits from crude adrenal extracts have 

 often been found by the author to contain beautifully formed 

 diamond-shaped crystals which Hendricks and Milner demon- 

 strated to be elementary sulfur. 



LIPIDS 



As we have already noted, the adrenals are characterized 

 by an unusually high lipid content and investigators since 

 Virchow 650 have devoted much attention to the study of these 

 lipids both from an anatomical as well as from a chemical 

 viewpoint. These two methods of study often give results 

 which superficially seem to be irreconcilable. For example 

 microscopic observations will often reveal an apparent disap- 

 pearance of the lipids from the adrenals in certain pathological 

 conditions. Chemical analysis may show, however, only in- 

 significant changes in the lipid content of the glands. The 



