Abstract
The site of action of cortin is unknown. In this study I have attempted to determine whether cortin will act after all the abdominal viscera have been removed from the rat. Adult male rats of the Wistar strain were used. The operations were carried out in two stages. In the first stage the vena cava was completely ligated between the points of entrance of the renal veins and those of the hepatic veins. Owing to the immediate circulatory changes induced by such a procedure, the adrenal glands are injured. Following this first stage of the operation death may occur in 40 to 60% of cases. Because of the possible relation between the adrenal gland and survival, I treated all of the animals with 1 cc of cortin daily in their drinking water for 5 days following operation. The mortality rate was reduced to less than 10% by this procedure.
Following a minimal period of delay of 21 days during which time an adequate collateral circulation was established the animals were closely matched into pairs on the basis of weight and all of the intestines, liver, kidneys and adrenal glands were removed from the abdominal cavity. Ether was used for anesthesia.
In Experiment 1, each of 10 pairs of animals was given 1 cc of a 20% solution of glucose immediately following operation and at each succeeding interval of 2 hours. One animal of each pair was given 0.5 cc of cortin (each cubic centimeter of cortin represented 75 g of whole gland) immediately following operation and at each succeeding interval of 2 hours. Of each pair one animal was used as a control; it received similar amounts of a physiologic saline solution at intervals of 2 hours.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.