STUDIES IN THE DISTRIBUTION AND CONCENTRATION OF ALKALINE PHOSPHATASE IN THE ADRENAL CORTEX OF NORMAL AND OF SEX HORMONE TREATED PIGEONS

THE DISTRIBUTION of alkaline phosphatase in the adrenal cortex exhibits a sexual dimorphism in the rat. Much more of the enzyme is present in the male than in the female (Dempsey et al., 1949). Elftman (1947 a and b) noted a similar difference between male and female mice. Only traces of the enzyme are present in the adrenal cortex of the female, whereas considerable quantities occur in that of the male. Dempsey et al. (1949) observed that after hypophysectomy the phosphatase disappears from the fasciculata and the reticularis of the rat's adrenal cortex but persists in the zona glomerulosa. Replacement therapy with whole pituitary powder causes a reappearance of the enzyme and a return to a condition approximating that of the normal gland. Elftman (19476) reported that phosphatase is absent from the adrenal cortex of the castrated male, the ovariectomized female and the immature male mice.