Relations of the Pituitary with Other Endocrine Organs 117 



growth is slowed or arrested, the development of the body generally and of 

 the sexual organs in particular is checked, and that of the higher functions 

 of the nervous system is interfered with. There is also a tendency to adi- 

 posity, which is particularly marked in cases of hypophysial deprivation, 

 but is also seen after thyroidectomy and in myxoedema. 



With the Suprarenals. — That there is some relationship between the 

 pituitary and the suprarenals would appear from the fact that, as 

 Gottlieb has shown, extracts of the posterior lobe of the pituitary and of 

 the suprarenal medulla mutually facilitate one another's action upon the 

 blood-vessels. Thus an immediately prior injection of even a small dose 

 of adrenalin will increase the effect of a dose of pituitrin, and vice versd. 



There is also some evidence that an excess of adrenalin is secreted into 

 the blood as the result of injection of extract of the posterior lobe of 

 the pituitary. 



With the Pancreas and Other Organs concerned with Carbohydrate 

 Metabolism. — Hypopituitarism, whether the result of disease or of surgical 

 interference, is associated with an increased tolerance for sugar. This 

 function is, as we have seen, connected with the posterior lobe. Accord- 

 ing to Cashing, animals which have suffered deprivation of this lobe 

 will even bear removal of the pancreas without exhibiting glycosuria. But 

 the result of removing the pancreas in causing glycosuria is produced 

 through the liver, the glycogen of which becomes converted into sugar. 

 And an effect similar to removal of the pancreas is produced by excess 

 of adrenalin in the blood or by swabbing the exposed pancreas with 

 adrenalin solution. 



There seems, indeed, to exist a functional correlation between pituitary, 

 suprarenal, pancreas, and liver, so that the disturbance of the function of 

 .any one of them may affect the metabolism of carbohydrates through its 

 influence upon others. And to these we may add the thyroid, since, as has 

 already been noticed, the mechanism of carbohydrate metabolism is also 

 affected, in some manner as yet imperfectly understood, by variations in its 

 secretion. For hypothyroidism, like hypopituitarism, raises the assimila- 

 tion limit for sugar in the bod v. On the other hand, according to Asher 

 and Flack, the presence of an unusual amount of thyroid secretion in the 

 blood acts as an excitant to the suprarenals, causing an increased outpour- 

 ing of adrenalin, and thus producing a lowering of the sugar assimilation 

 limit. As we have seen, a deficiency in thyroid secretion is associated with 

 increase of secretion of the posterior lobe of the pituitary. 



Cushing states that after removal of the pancreas the amount of 

 hyaline substance of the pars intermedia and pars nervosa is increased. 



