EFFECT OF ADRENALECTOMY AND ADRENAL CORTICAL HORMONE UPON THE FORMATION OF ANTIBODIES

Abstract

One of the striking characteristics of the adrenalectomized animal and of the Addisonian patient is a well-known susceptibility to infection. Numerous attempts to study the effect of adrenal insufficiency upon the development of immunity has resulted in conflicting data. Interest in the relation of the adrenal cortical hormones to the development and release of antibody globulin in experimental animals has been revived in recent years by the work of Dougherty, White and associates (1945, 1946) These authors have noted an enhancement of immune titers in animals treated with cortical hormones or adrenotrophic fractions of the hypophysis during the period of immunization Furthermore, animals previously treated with antigens, and in whom maximum titers had been attained, exhibited a remarkable augmentation of such titers following single injections of adrenal cortical extract or adrenotrophic hypophyseal extracts. This augmentation persisted for a period of 12 hours before returning to preinjection levels. The anamnestic effect exceeded the increase in immune titers induced by non-specific protein and specific antigen administration.