THE PITUITARY BODY 



able interest that abnormally high sensitivity to insulin is 

 said still to persist after the removal of the pancreas from a 

 hypophysectomized animal. If this observation is correct, the 

 frequently observed hypoglycemia and increased insulin sen- 

 sitivity of the hypophysectomized dog cannot be interpreted 

 as merely the results of the removal of an "inhibitory" effect 

 of the pituitary on the pancreas. 



Aschner's statement that the adrenal cortex of the hypo- 

 physectomized dog is thickened but that the adrenal body is 

 not enlarged because of an atrophy of the medulla has not 

 been confirmed. On the contrary, it appears that the princi- 

 pal change is an atrophy of the adrenal cortex, as in the rat 

 (Ascoli and Legnani, 1912; Houssay and others, 1933). The 

 latter authors found that the adrenal body was about 40 per 

 cent smaller in the hypophysectomized dog in comparison 

 with the normal. The medulla appeared to be unaltered. The 

 whole adrenal contained, in absolute terms, as much epi- 

 nephrin as the normal gland (colorimetric determinations). In 

 the cortex, owing to the atrophy of the reticulate and fas- 

 ciculate zones, the glomerular zone appeared to be hyper- 

 trophied. 



Although degenerative changes can be found in the para- 

 thyroid glands of hypophysectomized dogs (Koster, 1930), 

 they are said to occur in only about two-thirds of the cases 

 (Houssay and Sammartino, 1933). However, they are always 

 present in hypophysectomized dogs also subjected to thy- 

 roidectomy or pancreatectomy (Houssay and others, 1931, 

 1933). Koster and Geesink (1929) observed a reduction (0.5- 

 ■2.8 mg. per cent) in the concentration of the blood calcium. 

 The change was not constant and only infrequently great 

 enough to justify their conclusion that there was a significant 

 reduction. Neither Mazzocco (1927) nor Gerschmann (1931) 

 found any change in the amount of calcium in the blood of 

 hypophysectomized dogs. 



Some contend that the thymus is somewhat larger or per- 



[64] 



