Abstract
The importance of the pituitary gland in carbohydrate metabolism has been generally recognized since the publication of the work of Houssay and his associates. 1 They reported that the removal of the hypophysis in toads and dogs considerably ameliorated the hyperglycemia which followed pancreatectomy, and their results have been amply confirmed by Barnes and Regan, 2 by Lucke, 3 and by others. The antagonistic action of the hormone from both the anterior pituitary and the islets of Langerhans on blood sugar levels is well known. The former tends to increase while the latter decreases blood sugar levels. The determination of morphological relationships, if any, existing between these 2 endocrine glands was thought to be of interest.
In this preliminary study, a comparison was made of the ratio of the total volume of islet tissue in the pancreas to the body weight. The findings from 23 male rats are reported here. These were divided into 3 groups. (1) 8 normal controls, (2) 8 hypophysectomized and (3) 7 hypophysectomized pituitary-injected animals. In the last group, injections were begun on the day of operation and were administered 4 times weekly in doses of 0.5 to 1.0 cc. The material used for injection was prepared by the method of Evans and Cornish and a few animals were treated with Phyone obtained from the Wilson Laboratories. All animals of groups 2 and 3 were hypophysectomized from 30 to 60 days before they were sacrificed. Identical conditions for all 3 groups were maintained during the course of the experiment, with a surplus of a standard diet always available. At the end of the experiment, the animals were killed, the entire pancreas removed, fixed in Bouin's solution and serially sectioned at 25 micra.
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