THE RELATION OF FOOD CONSUMPTION, HYPOPHYSIS AND ADRENAL CORTEX TO SERUM ALBUMIN METABOLISM IN THE RAT

Abstract

Following hypophysec-tomy, adult [male] rats markedly decreased their food intake and showed great loss of body wt. and considerable decrease in serum albumin. Intact rats, subjected to decreased food consumption, lost a greater proportion of their body wt. but much less serum albumin. Hypophysectomized rats supplied with adequate amts. of food by stomach tube gained wt. at a rate equal to that of normal animals and serum albumin remained nearly normal. If adreno-cortical function is normal, the rat is able to maintain its serum albumin at normal level even_ when forced to subsist partially on its own tissues, but if adreno-cortical function is deficient or absent, the rat is unable to do this unless supplied with quantities of food considerably larger than hypophysectomized rats voluntarily consume.