BLOOD CELL FORMATION AND DISTRIBUTION IN RELATION TO THE MECHANISM OF THYROID-ACCELERATED METAMORPHOSIS IN THE LARVAL FROG

Abstract

1. Thyroid-accelerated metamorphosis in the larval frog is accompanied by changes in the hemopoietic centers and in the blood cell distribution in the various regions of the body. These changes are interpreted as results of the fundamental change in basal metabolic rate induced by the thyroid treatment. 2. There is initiation of the shift of hemopoietic locus from the kidney, the larval hemopoietic organ, to the spleen, the adult hemopoietic organ. The spleen, being chiefly an erythrocyte producer, becomes of greater importance with the transition from the lower metabolic rate to the higher, since greater erythropoiesis becomes necessary to supply the physical basis for the maintenance of the higher metabolic rate. 3. It is suggested that the appearance of red bone marrow in the later history of the frog is correlated with a still higher metabolic rate. Phylogenetically, in the vertebrate series, red bone marrow is also associated with higher metabolic rate. 4. The new metabolic rate initiated in tadpoles by thyroid administration sets up a demand for (a) erythrocytes, (b) granulocytes and lymphoid phagocytes for distribution to regions of regressive change, (c) lymphocytes, (1) as progenitors of erythrocytes, granulocytes and phagocytes, (2) for promoting growth of cells in regions of progressive change. 5. Upon the hemopoietic reserve, which in the last analysis is the lymphocyte (and its mesenchymal precursor), depends the extent to which metamorphosis will proceed. Inability on the part of the hemopoietic centers, chiefly the spleen, to keep pace with the demand for blood cells during metamorphosis results in metamorphic stasis, a condition of anemia which is usually followed by death. 6. The growth-promoting function of leucocytes, as demonstrated by Carrel, is probably to be ascribed to the lymphocyte component of leucocytes. 7. The granulocytes have probably also a glandular function, and may exert a lytic effect upon adjacent tissues in regions of regressive change.