THE INFLUENCE OF VARIOUS ADRENAL AND GONADAL STEROIDS ON THE ACCUMULATION OF ALKALINE PHOSPHATASE IN THE DUODENUM OF THE SUCKLING MOUSE1

Abstract

JUST before the nursling mouse is normally weaned, its adrenal glands, apparently acting under the influence of the pituitary, incite a 15 to 20-fold increase in the alkaline phosphatase content of the duodenal epithelium (Moog, 1953). Although this increase ordinarily occurs between the 16th and the 18th day, it can be brought about as much as a week earlier by the administration of a single dose of cortisone acetate. It is striking, however, that the precocious phosphatase synthesis induced by exogenous hormone proceeds at the normal rate to the normal maximum, the process apparently remaining under the control of the reacting tissue. This finding raised the question whether cortisone acetate acts as an unspecific stimulus, in the way that a variety of unrelated substances may promote specific inductive effects in early embryonic development (cf. Holtfreter, 1951), or whether it plays a more precise role, as perhaps by participating in an enzyme-controlled reaction leading to phosphatase synthesis.