HORMONAL INFLUENCES ON THE WEIGHT OF THE ADRENAL IN INANITION

Abstract

111 [female] and 81 [male] albino rats were either fed ad lib., starved completely, or underfed for varying lengths of time. In complete starvation adrenal hypertrophy occurred, whereas in chronic inanition, atrophy of the adrenal glands was present. When gonadotrophic hormone, "growth hormone," estrogen, or testosterone was injected in small doses, it did not markedly alter the gain or loss in the wt. of the adrenal glands. Therefore, during complete or chronic inanition, any lack of these hormones was not a major factor in affecting the wt. of the adrenals. Despite continued underfeeding, [female] rats which received normal pituitary implants showed a gain in the wt. of the previously atrophied adrenal glands. These implants did not result in any apparent change in the thyroid glands. This indicates that the atrophy of the adrenal glands was not due wholly to the malnutrition nor to an effect upon the thyroid glands, but was at least in part due to an insufficient amt. of adrenotrophic hormone.