Abstract
Rogoff and Ferrill 1 have shown that the development and course of diabetes following total extirpation of the pancreas, in dogs, is not modified by reduction or suppression of epinephrine secretion, from the adrenal glands. Further, they observed that in depan-creatized dogs, not subjected to operations for interference with epinephrine secretion, a marked reduction in the epinephrine output may occur after various periods, under treatment with insulin on a constant diet.
We are investigating the probable causes for this disturbance of the epinephrine secretion from the adrenals and have attempted to determine whether the following factors play a rôle: a, the diabetic state, b, a possible influence of insulin, c, integrity of the splanchnic innervation. This report is a summary of the results obtained by us in experiments on 39 dogs.
Sixteen animals (Group 1) were totally pancreatectomized and kept on a diet consisting of 500 gm. boiled beef lung, 100 gm. cane sugar and 75 gm. fresh raw beef pancreas daily. Insulin was administered in doses necessary to maintain the daily excretion of sugar in the urine below about 5 gm. and below about 1%. At different periods of observation, ranging from 11 to 77 days following pancreatectomy, experiments were terminated and the animals sacrificed for determination of the epinephrine output from the adrenal glands by the method of Stewart and Rogoff.
Thirteen dogs (Group 2) were totally pancreatectomized and kept on a diet of 500 gm. boiled beef lung and 75 gm. fresh raw pancreas daily. Sugar was not added, nor were they treated with insulin. The animals were sacrificed for determination of epinephrine output from the adrenals when they showed evidence of severe diabetes, 4 to 23 days after pancreatectomy.
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