Blood and Pituitary Adrenocorticotrophin in Adrenalectomized Rats with Hypothalamic Lesions.

Abstract

Blood ACTH concentration of adrenalectomized rats, treated with DCA for 2 weeks and then subjected to the acute stress of ether anesthesia and bleeding was found to be 11 milliunits per 100 ml. Suitably placed hypothalamic lesions prevented this rise in blood ACTH. Pituitary ACTH was maintained at a level approximately 50% of that found in adrenalectomized rats without lesions. The effective lesions interrupted the supraopticohypophyseal tract as evidenced by their location and by the presence of marked diabetes insipidus.