STUDIES ON THE NATURE OF THE PROTEIN CATABOLIC RESPONSE TO ADRENAL CORTICAL EXTRACT. ACCENTUATION BY INSULIN HYPOGLYCEMIA

Abstract

In previous reports (Engel, Schiller and Pentz, 1949, Bondy, Engel, and Farrar, 1949) data were presented to indicate that the adrenal cortex influenced nitrogen metabolism largely at the level of protein breakdown and that this effect on protein catabolism was conditioned by the internal metabolic environment of the animal at the time of treatment with hormone. It was suggested that the levels of carbohydrate stores in the body and the availability of sources of new carbohydrate other than tissue protein were factors in determining the occurrence or magnitude of protein catabolism after cortical hormone treatment. A possible synergistic role of non-specific stress in the protein catabolic response to adrenal cortical extract (A.C.E.) was also considered. The present study is an attempt to elucidate further the role of the need for gluconeogenesis in determining the protein catabolic response to A.C.E. Insulin hypoglycemia was used as a method for increasing carbohydrate requirements and hence the need for gluconeogenesis in the fasting animal.