TRIGLYCERIDES AND FATTY ACIDS 161 



in fed rats/*^-^^^-'''*^ but that ketonuria is abolished when the carboh3'drate 

 nietabohsm is stimulated by the administration of glucose. ^^^ The hyperlip- 

 emic response to the pituitary hormone is not affected by the removal of 

 the pancreas. *^^'^^* The ketonuria is suppressed by adrenalectomy;''^^ 

 fatty infiltration of the liver is likewise abolished by this procedure. *^^ 



On the other hand, hypophysectomy reverses the changes caused by the 

 injection of the pituitary hormone. In the first place, it considerably 

 reduces the incidence of h^^perlipemia;''^'' after extirpation of the anterior 

 lobe of the pituitary, the fatty infiltration of the liver following pancreatec- 

 tomy is decreased. In fact, according to Issekutz and "S'erzar,'*^^ fatty 

 livers do not develop in hypoph^'sectomized rats, e\'en after the treatment 

 of the animals with powerful hepatotoxic agents such as carbon tetra- 

 chloride and phosphorus. However, the effect of hypophysectomy in 

 preventing fatty livers is completely reversed by the adrenocortical 

 hormones. Oastler and Anderson^^* believe that the absence of ketonuria 

 in hypophysectomized animals is related to an increase in the renal thresh- 

 old for ketone bodies following the operation. Bondy and Wilhelmi"*^^ 

 reported that the rate of formation of ketone bodies by rat liver slices 

 from hj'pophysectomized rats was depressed below that of liver slices 

 from normal rats. This reduced activity was accounted for entirelj^ on 

 the basis of the reduced activity of the thyroid gland; this effect was 

 completely counteracted by thyroxine. 



According to Lotspeich,™ liver slices from rats which had received growth 

 hormone (also elaborated in the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland) 

 produced significantly more acetoacetate than did liver slices obtained 

 from rats previously fed calorically equivalent diets corresponding to those 

 of the experimental animals. When insulin was also administered, an 

 even greater production of acetoacetate was noted in the liver slices. 

 Thus, it is suggested that, under these conditions, insulin is hyperketogenic 

 rather than antiketogenic. The explanation of these findings is not 

 immediately available. 



The reports in the literature on the action of the adrenal hormones are 



"3R. A. Shipley and C. N. H. Long, Biochern. J., 32, 2242-2256 (1938). 

 "* J. M. Munoz, Com-pt. rend. soc. biol, 127, 156-157 (1938). 

 "5E. M. MacKay and R. H. Barnes, Am. J. Physiol, 118, 184-189 (1937). 

 "6 1. L. Chaikoff, G. E. Gibbs, G. F. Holtom, and F. L. Reichert, Am. J. Physiol, 116, 

 543-550(1936). 



«' B. V. Issekutz, Jr., and F. Verzdr, Arch. ges. Physiol (Pfluger's), 240, 624-635 (1938). 

 "8 E. G. Oastler and A. B. Anderson, Biochem. J., S3, 1094-1098 (1939). 

 "9 P. K. Bondy and A. E. Wilhelmi, /. Biol Chem., 186, 245-251 (1950). 

 «» W. D. Lotspeich, Federation Proc, 12, 91 (1953). 



