Effect of Adrenalectomy on the Testes of the Rat

Abstract

In the literature, clinical observations are the most prominent in dealing with the relationship between the adrenals and the sex organs. There are many cases on record of precocious maturity, virilism, hermaphroditism, and other sex disturbances associated with adrenal pathology. 1 Most of the work on laboratory animals demonstrates changes in the adrenals due to castration, 2 pregnancy, 3 and ovulation. 4 The effect of adrenalectomy in suppressing the estrous cycle in rats is of little significance since the altered metabolism easily obscures any specific relationship. 5 Novak 6 found that the testes of adrenalectomized rats contained degenerated tubules, the younger rats being more susceptible to this condition than the older ones. MacMahon and Zwemer 7 noticed only changes in the interstitial cells of the cat testes. Jaffe 8 in working with large numbers of rabbits concluded that tubular degeneration occurs in only a small percentage of cases and that it is due to the general poor health of the animals. Feeding adrenal cortex is said to increase the size of rat and chick testes. 9 , 10

One is impressed, from Britton's recent review, 11 by the lack of uniformity in the results of numerous experiments on the effects of adrenalectomy. This is especially noticeable in the reports on the survival times of rats, a point of fundamental importance. Workers of much experience have for years stated that adrenalectomized rats live on for long periods due to the possession of accessory cortical tissue. In the hands of different experimenters, from 20 to 80% of the rats are able to withstand the operation successfully. In our first group of operations we found that about one-quarter of the animals seemed unaffected by having their adrenals removed, an outcome which was expected.