Abstract
Summary
Hypophysectomy in the rat leads to a decrease in adrenal medullary concentrations of phenylethanolamine-N-methyltransferase (PNMT), the enzyme which catalyzes the conversion, in situ, of norepinephrine to epinephrine. Unlike the immediate decrease of glucocorticoids, this decrement takes several days (weeks) to occur. When ACTH is now given to such animals, not only is steroid synthesis resumed, but there is an immediate activation of PNMT and epinephrine synthesis.
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