Hibernation and Pituitary Body. 



25 



13 (830) 



The effects of protein starvation and feeding on the amino-acid 

 content of the tissues. 



By Donald D. Van Slyke and Gustave M. Meyer. 



[From the Laboratories of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical 



Research.] 



Starvation for periods up to twelve days does not reduce the 

 amino-acid content of the tissues of dogs, nor does high protein 

 feeding (500 grams of beef daily added to the regular diet for I to 

 7 days) increase it. The results indicate that: 



1. Nitrogen retained as the result of high protein feeding is 

 not in the form of stored digestion products, but rather as body 

 protein. 



2. The free amino-acids of the tissues can originate not only 

 from the food, but also from autolysing tissues, as the latter 

 are the only apparent source from which the amino-acid supply 

 can be maintained during starvation. 



14 (831) 



Hibernation and the pituitary body. 



By Harvey Cushing and Emil Goetsch. 



[From the Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 



Mass.] 



A train of symptoms, coupled with retardation of tissue meta- 

 bolism and with inactivity of the reproductive glands, not only 

 accompanies experimental states of hypophysial deficiency but is 

 equally characteristic of clinical states of hypopituitarism. The 

 more notable of these symptoms are a lowering of body tempera- 

 ture, slowing of pulse and respiration, fall in blood pressure, and 

 somnolence, together with a tendency, in the chronic cases, toward 

 an unusual deposition of fat. 



These symptoms are comparable to those accompanying the 

 state of hibernation. 



