THE SIZE OF THE SUPRARENAL MEDULLA IN HYPOPHYSECTOMIZED RATS

There have been relatively few investigations on the size of the suprarenal medulla after hypophysectomy. Smith (1930) found a slight atrophy of the medulla after hypophysectomy in experiments on 3 rats. Collip et al. (1933) in their investigations on rats found no change in the medulla after hypophysectomy. Houssay Sc Sammartino (1933) reported similar results after exact measurements of the suprarenal glands of hypophysectomized dogs, and in agreement with this Houssay & Mazzocco (1933) showed that the adrenaline content of the suprarenal glands was not affected by hypophysectomy. Cutuly (1936) found that the suprarenal medulla of normal rats weighed 2.53 mg. ± 0.45 (weight of the rats: 200 gm.). After hypophysectomy the medulla weighed 2.00 mg. ± 0.31 (weight of the rats: 166 gm.). These results are based on studies of 14 normal and 20 hypophysectomized rats. Cutuly notes that the difference between the two groups is hardly statistically significant.