Hypertrophy of the Adrenals in Scurvy

Abstract

The author 1 observed that a marked hypertrophy of the adrenals occurred in guinea pigs that died of scurvy. The same observation had been previously made by Bessesen 2 and others. Svirbely and Szent-Gyorgyi 3 and Waugh and King 4 have demonstrated that the hexuronic acid isolated from the adrenal cortex is vitamin C. It seemed desirable to investigate further the effect of a vitamin C free diet on the adrenal. The results are recorded in Table I.

The adrenal hypertrophy is probably an attempted compensatory though futile response on the part of the organism to vitamin C deficiency. The adrenals of the normal guinea pig when cross sectioned and covered with 0.04% of silver nitrate became deeply stained due to the reducing action of the hexuronic acid as Szent-Gyorgyi 5 first demonstrated. It was found that the adrenals of the scorbutic animals, in marked contrast, caused no reduction and remained unstained. This seems to indicate a complete depletion of the hexuronic acid in the terminal stages of scurvy. The relationship of vitamin C to the cortical hormone is not known, but it is interesting to note that in acute cortical deficiency, a marked capillary permeability is observed, 6 while in scurvy there is presumably also an alteration in the permeability of the capillaries resulting in diffuse hemorrhages.