STUDIES IN HISTOCHEMISTRY: EFFECTS OF STRESS CONDITIONS, ACTH, CORTISONE AND DESOXYCORTICOSTERONE ON THE QUANTITATIVE HISTOLOGICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ASCORBIC ACID IN ADRENAL GLANDS OF THE RAT AND MONKEY12

Abstract

Quantitative histological distribution of adrenal ascorbic acid was studied in rats and monkeys following treatments with ACTH, cortisone, or desoxycorticosterone, or exposure to the stress conditions of chilling, violent struggling, ether anesthesia, and combined hypoxia and hyperthermia. Adrenals of monkeys which had granulomatous lesions in the lungs and other organs were also investigated. All of the stress conditions caused a decrease in the concentration of ascorbic acid, chiefly in the outer fascicular and reticular zones. The magnitude of loss of adrenal ascorbic acid after ACTH treatment of rats (25-30 mg/kg intraperitoneally) was of the same order as that caused by cold exposure (2[degree]C) for 1 hour. In monkeys the loss produced by comparable intraperitoneal doses of ACTH was less than that caused by the stress conditions. DCA administered daily to rats for 2.5-3 weeks, caused a small decrease in ascorbic acid in the outer fasciculate; single injections had no effect. Moderate decreases in the adrenal ascorbic acid concentrations occurred in both rats and monkeys when they were sacrificed 24 hours after a single injection of cortisone acetate. When the rat was given a single subcutan. dose 24 hours before exposure to cold (2[degree]C) for 1 hour, both cortisone acetate and desoxycorticosterone acetate inhibited the losses of ascorbic acid. Little or no dehy-droascorbic and diketogulonic acids were found in any of the zones of the adrenal from normal rats or those exposed to cold or forced to struggle violently.