THE EFFECT OF ADRENALECTOMY ON THE HISTOCHEMICALLY DETERMINED PHOSPHATASES OF THE SMALL INTESTINE IN RAT

Abstract

The effect of adrenalectomy upon the histochemically demonstrated phosphatase activity in the intestinal epithelium in rats is estimated at various levels of pH from 4.0 to 10.0. Sodium- [beta] glycero-phosphate, glucose- l-phosphate, disodium-phenylphosphate, lecithin and fructose-1-6-calcium diphosphate were used for substrate. Gonadectomy had no effect on the phosphatase activity in adrenalectomized animals and in the controls. Adrenalectomized animals that were given injections of DOCA showed the same activity as the controls. Adrenalectomized animals showed a loss of phosphatase activity at the limits of the active pH range. Expts. with different incubation periods showed that this loss is of quantitative character, not qualitative. On addition of NaCl to the drinking water the phosphatase activity occupied a pH range intermediate between that of untreated adrenalectomized animals and that of DOCA-treated adrenalectomized animals. This result indicates strongly that adrenocortical hormone exerts no direct effect upon the phosphatase activity in the intestinal epithelium.