THE ACTION OF TESTOSTERONE ON THE ADRENAL CORTEX OF THE HYPOPHYSECTOMIZED, PREPUBERALLY CASTRATED MALE MOUSE1

Abstract

The adkenal cortex of the adult male and the parous female mouse consists of a connective tissue capsule surrounding the whole gland, an outer zona glomerulosa, a zona fasciculata and generally but not invariably a zona reticularis and a medullary connective tissue capsule. In young mice and in virgin females a further zone recognizable, namely, the X zone and this shows variations with sex and age. In those mice with an X zone a medullary connective tissue capsule is not present and a zona reticularis is not well-developed or is absent (Waring, 1935; Jones, 1948a). For convenience of description the zona glomerulosa and the zona fasciculata (and the zona reticularis) are together termed the “permanent” cortex. In contradistinction to this term the X zone has been referred to as the “transitory” cortex (Whitehead, 1933) but the former term will be employed in this paper as it is now the name in common usage. The variations of the X zone in the female mouse adrenal are not dealt with in this paper. In the male, however, the X zone disappears