Effect of Epinephrine on the Neutrophile Count of Normal and Adrenalectomized Mice.

Adrenal cortical extract in doses which caused a similar or greater decrease in eosinophiles of intact mice did not produce as extreme a degree of neutrophilia as epinephrine. Even in animals which had been completely adrenalectomized, as indicated by the lack of an eosinopenia after epinephrine, this substance produced a marked increase of neutrophiles in the circulating blood. Neither sex hormones nor peanut oil had this effect. Since epinephrine also caused marked neutrophilia in splenectomized mice its influence was not exerted through the spleen. Preliminary observation of bone marrow smears of intact injected animals indicated a higher proportion of neutrophilic to eosinophilic cells in the marrow of epinephrine injected mice as compared with those injected with ACE. This suggests a direct effect of epinephrine on the bone marrow.