I. Effect of Suprarenalectomy on Muscle Tissue Respiration.

Abstract

A series of 25 experiments were performed on as many suprarenalectomized, male mice and their normal, male litter mates in order to determine the effect of suprarenalectomy on the respiration of excised skeletal muscle. The tissue respiration was measured on abdominal muscle by a modification of the Warburg differential method.

The accompanying table shows the values obtained in 13 of these experiments. The quantity of oxygen consumed is expressed in terms of cubic millimeters consumed during the first hour of respiration per milligram of dried tissue. Columns 5 and 6 compare the aerobic production of lactic acid by muscle of normal mice and of suprarenalectomized mice. Columns 7 and 8 compare the anaerobic production of lactic acid by muscle of normal mice and of suprarenalectomized mice. The quantity of lactic acid produced both aerobically and anaerobically is expressed in accordance with the Warburg method in terms of cubic millimeters of carbon dioxide produced during the first hour of respiration per milligram of dried tissue. At the foot of the table is given first, the means of these 6 groups of values; second, the difference of the means for the groups compared; third, the probable error of the difference of the means.

The 13 experiments show respiration values consistently greater for the suprarenalectomized mice. This difference applies only to the period starting about the 55th day and ending about the 70th day after suprarenalectomy. Before and after that period there is no difference in the respiration of the muscle of the normal and suprarenalectomized mice.