FURTHER STUDY ON THE ENDOCRINE RELATIONS OF CAPILLARY RESISTANCE1

Abstract

PREVIOUS studies have shown (1, 2, 3) that cortisone is able to restore to normal the characteristically low capillary resistance of the adrenalectomized rat, and that this effect can be antagonized by the somatotropic hormone (STH) of the anterior pituitary. Under certain experimental conditions STH was also found capable of decreasing the capillary resistance of the normal (non-adrenalectomized) rat. Subsequent observations of Wilhelmj and associates (4) corroborated this finding on the dog. STH was found to decrease capillary resistance of the normal dog and to antagonize the capillary resistance-increasing action of cortisone in the same species. Whereas in these experiments the cortisone-STH antagonism was investigated by the administration of these hormones, in the present study the same antagonism was explored from a different approach, i.e., by the surgical removal of the endocrine gland sources of the same hormones.