THE ROLE OF THE PITUITARY POSTERIOR HORMONE IN FAT METABOLISM

Abstract

From an analysis and review of literature, from clinical experience, the following is propounded as a statement of the role: Large subcutaneous or smaller intraventricular doses of pituitrin decrease the neutral fat content of the blood. The reaction is abolished by mechanical destruction or pharmacological paralysis of the centers in the tuber cinereum, after transection of the spinal cord, after paralysis or section of the abdominal splanchnic, or after paralyzing the latter with ergotamine, or after P poisoning. An accumulation of fat in the liver and a decrease of the peripheral tissue fat has been noted after pituitrin injection. The conclusion is drawn that pituitrin promotes the absorption and destruction of circulating fat by the liver through a nervous pathway starting in the tuber cinereum and running through the cervical spinal cord and the abdominal splanchnic to the liver. Any disturbance of the cooperative pituitary-mesencephalic system would lead to a retention of excess fat amounts in the body and thus lead to obesity. Comparative arterio-venous fat determinations suggest that pituitrin does not affect deposit fat directly. There seems to be a close relationship between the pituitrin-nervous mechanism for fat destruction and the so-called chemical heat regulation. Verified cases of purely hypophyseal and purely mesencephalic obesity have been observed by the author.