Abstract
Dreyer's demonstration that splanchnic stimulation increased the content of adrenal secretion in blood from the adrenal veins has been confirmed by several observers. Adrenal secretion therefore is under control of the sympathetic system.
Major emotional disturbances indicate the dominance of sympathetic impulses. In the cat, for example, fright causes dilation of the pupils, inhibition of the stomach and intestines, rapid heart, and erection of the hairs of the back and tail. Do not the adrenal glands share in this widespread subjugation of the viscera to sympathetic control?
To try this suggestion the inhibition of contraction in strips of longitudinal intestinal muscle, sensitive to suprarenin 1:20,000,000, was used as a biological test. Blood was obtained from the cat when quiet, and again after the animal was excited by the presence of a barking dog, by introducing, through the femoral vein, into the inferior vena cava to the region of the liver, a small vaselined catheter. The blood thus obtained was defibrinated and applied to the intestinal strip at body temperature.
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