Tolerance of Normal and Adrenalectomized Rats for Cortisone Acetate.

Abstract

Male rats having an initial weight of approx. 300 g. were force-fed a medium carbohydrate diet by stomach tube twice daily. One rat of each pair was adrenalectomized and the other was subjected to a sham-adrenalectomy. A comparison was made of the resistance of the two groups of rats to large doses of cortisone acetate. In expt. 1, 12 pairs of rats were each treated with 5 mg. of the steroid per rat per day for 21 days. The loss of weight in the adrenalectomized animals was greater than in the non-adrenalectomized animals, but there was no group difference in the extent of glycosuria. In expt. 2 and 3, a total of 23 pairs of rats were given 10 mg. of cortisone acetate per rat per day for 21 days. The loss of weight and the avg. amt. of glucose excreted were significantly greater in the adrenalectomized animals. The incidence of gross pathology, especially kidney changes and stomach ulcers, was greater in the adrenalectomized animals of all 3 exptl. groups. It was concluded that adrenalectomized rats are more sensitive to an excess of cortisone acetate than are non-adrenalectomized rats.