THE PITUITARY ADRENOTROPHIC HORMONE CONTROL OF THE RATE OF RELEASE OF SERUM GLOBULINS FROM LYMPHOID TISSUE11

Abstract

Single injns. of pituitary adrenotrophic hormone in rats resulted in an increase in total serum proteins measured at 3 or 6 hrs. after injn. Twenty-four hrs. after hormone adm., the total serum proteins had returned to approx. normal levels. Continued daily injn. of adrenotrophic hormone for 15 days in the mouse produced a consistently elevated serum protein level. Adrenalectomy in mice gave evidence of significantly lowered total protein content of the sera of the operated animals, provided marked hemoconc. was prevented. Single injns. of adrenotrophic hormone or of adrenal cortical steroids in rabbits produced, during the 3-24 hr. period following hormone adm., a significantly increased conc. of total serum globulin, due to significant increases in the [beta] and [gamma] globulin fractions of the bloods of the injn. rabbits. Electrophoretic examination of the protein-containing extracts of washed, lysed lymphocytes from rabbit lymphoid tissue revealed the presence of a protein component with an electrophoretic mobility identical with that of the [gamma] globulin of normal rabbit serum at the same pH (7.95) and ionic strength (0.2). The data lead to the conclusion that the lymphocytes of lymphoid tissue are a storehouse for a portion of the globulin fraction of the serum, and that the rate of release of this protein is under the normal physiological control of the pituitary adrenotrophic hormone which exerts its influence by way of the adrenal cortex. The evidence permits the integration of the functioning of the lymphocyte and the adrenal cortex in normal defense mechanisms of the organism.