Abstract
Summary
In the rat, desoxycorticosterone acetate (D.C.A.) causes marked diuresis, accompanied by increased chloride excretion, but not by a constant increase in the chloride concentration of the urine. The diuretic effect is much more pronounced in the hypo-physectomized than in the intact rat. Unlike in the intact animal, D.C.A. fails to decrease the blood chlorides in the hypophysecto-mized rat. The hyperchloruria and polyuria cannot be considered, therefore, as the consequence of the hypochloremia.
The kidney hypertrophy elicited by progesterone, D.C.A., and androgens is likewise not the cause of the polyuria since testosterone —which is most active among the steroids as far as kidney enlargement is concerned—does not influence diuresis. The kidney-enlarging action of all three above mentioned steroids is considerably decreased but not prevented by hypophysectomy.
The expenses of this investigation were defrayed by a grant received by one of us (H.S.) from the Committee on Endocrinology of the United States National Research Council. We are also greatly indebted to Doctors Gregory Stragnell and Erwin Schwenk of the Schering Corporation of Bloomfield, New Jersey, who donated the generous supply of steroid hormones which was necessary for the completion of these experiments.
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