PRODUCTION OF CORTICOIDS BY RAT ADRENALSIN VITRO

Abstract

THE isolated adrenal cortex can be stimulated by the in vitro addition of corticotrophin. Tepperman (1950), using dog adrenal cortex slices, and Saffran, Bayliss and Webb (1951), using rat adrenal glands, found that corticotrophin, added in vitro, caused a fall in adrenal ascorbic acid and an increase in adrenal respiration. Pincus, Hechter and Zaffaroni (1951) and Vogt (1951) showed that the addition of corticotrophin to the perfusing medium increased the production of corticoids by perfused adrenal glands of cattle and dogs. This paper describes the formation of corticoids by rat adrenal glands in vitro and the stimulation of this formation by the addition in vitro of corticotrophin. The adrenal glands of young adult male Sprague-Dawley or Long-Evans rats were removed under nembutal anesthesia, dissected free of fat, and bisected with scissors. The glands were placed into Warburg flasks containing 2 ml. of Krebs-Ringer-phosphate medium (Dixon, 1943) with added glucose (200 mg. %).