Chronic Adrenal Insufficiency and Pancreas Diabetes.

Abstract

Grollman and Firor1 have demonstrated that chronic adrenal insufficiency, induced by various methods, is primarily a disturbance of pituitary origin. The syndrome which follows, cessation of growth, failure of reproductive activity and subnormal body temperature is, according to the above workers, relieved by administration of pituitary extracts and not by cortin. Long2 has shown that acute adrenal insufficiency caused by the removal of the adrenal gland, though accompanied by injections of cortin, ameliorates experimental pancreatic diabetes. The object of the present experiments is to determine the effects of chronic adrenal insufficiency on the course of experimental pancreatic diabetes.Eight cats were anesthetized with sodium pento1)arl)ital and both lumboadrenal veins were ligated distally and proximally to the gland. L4t the same time the entire pancreas was removed. The animals received neither insulin nor cortin. Fluid was given ad lib. along with a Lveighetl amount of food (Bovex) each day. The p...