THE PITUITARY BODY 



thalamic lesions will be difficult to interpret until more data 

 have been secured, but they suggest that functional changes 

 have occurred in the pancreas and/or the pituitary. 



According to Davis (1934), a bilateral hypothalamic lesion 

 in the cat may prevent the appearance of both glycosuria and 

 hyperglycemia if pancreatectomy is performed later. His 

 other experiments, from which he concluded that such lesions 

 also prevent glycosuria and hyperglycemia following the 

 stimulation of the cervical sympathetic ganglion, are not 

 convincing. 



The relation between the hypothalamus and the metabolism of 

 fat. — Obesity frequently occurs in hypophysectomized dogs, 

 particularly if the operation has been performed in young 

 animals. This is especially true of operations performed by a 

 temporal approach. For example, Aschner, who used the buc- 

 cal approach, observed much less obesity in his dogs, hypo- 

 physectomized when adult, than did Gushing. However, 

 Aschner described a marked increase in the subcutaneous fat 

 of his hypophysectomized puppies (e.g., subcutaneous fat of 

 abdomen, 4-5 cm. thick). On the other hand, only moderate 

 obesity appeared in Reichert's puppies hypophysectomized 

 by a temporal approach. 



Lesions of the hypothalamus, without apparent injury of 

 the pituitary body, have caused the appearance of adiposity 

 with atrophy of the gonads in both dogs and men (Camus and 

 Roussy; Bailey and Bremer; Fulton and Bailey). In the rat, 

 Smith observed a pronounced deposition of fat in some ani- 

 mals in which he undertook to destroy the pituitary body by 

 the injection of chromic acid (Fig. 24). In these experiments. 

 Smith used a lateral approach. If, as seems likely, adiposity 

 may appear after an injury of the hypothalamus, little is 

 known as to the mechanism of this effect. Whether or not the 

 pars glandularis or the whole pituitary body is present, ap- 

 parently makes little difference. "Genital dystrophy" is 

 thought by some to occur merely as the result of a lesion of 



[76I 



