Abstract
A paper recently published 1 describes lipoid nephrosis in completely adrenalectomized cats. We wished to know whether a similar condition developed in guinea pigs which, judging from the relative size of the adrenals to body weight, make greater use of the adrenals than any other animal, and in rats, which are known to require the adrenals less than most other mammals.
The guinea pig adrenals were destroyed in 2 stages 1 week apart, by electric cautery, care being taken to injure no other organs. The rat adrenals were removed through a single slit in the skin in the mid-line of the back by the lumbar path at one operation.
It was shown by autopsy that the guinea pig adrenals had been completely destroyed. The average survival, exclusive of 1 animal which died from overheating and 2 which died from shock, was 8.8 days. Although 7 animals are an insufficient basis to draw up a conclusive average for the survival period, the results would seem to indicate that there is little difference from cats.
The rats shown in the table belong to a series of 60 operated animals. Since only those animals which were in poor condition were turned over for histological examination, the periods of survival shown in the table are not representative of the whole series. The accompanying tables indicate the relative amount of kidney lipoid stained by Sudan 111.
Eight out of 10 apparently normal guinea pigs serving as controls showed an erztire absence of lipoid while one showed +lipid and the other with chronic diffuse nephritis showed ++lipoid. Lipoid was absent from 3 out of 6 rats used as controls. One showed a trace. The remaining 2 showed + and 4-+ lipoid, both being rats with sarcoma.
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