Thyroid and Adrenal Response to Varying Dose Levels of Epinephrine

Abstract

Summary

The smallest intraperitoneal dose of epinephrine which produces a significant response from the thyroid and adrenal glands of the rat in two hours (as measured by I¹³¹ concentration and cholesterol content respectively) is 20 μg. The responses observed with varying levels of epinephrine are quantitatively similar for the two glands and are approximately parallel between doses of 20 and 100 μg of epinephrine. This is interpreted as an increased rate of function of both glands. Various explanations of these findings are discussed.