DISTURBANCES OF WATER METABOLISM IN VITAMIN DEFICIENCIES AND EFFECTS OF ADRENAL CORTICAL HORMONES1

Abstract

IT HAS BEEN REPORTED that pathological changes occur in the adrenal cortices of rats fed a diet deficient in pantothenic acid (Daft and Sebrell, 1939; Nelson, 1939; Daft, Sebrell, Babcock and Jukes, 1940; Ashburn, 1940; Salmon.and Engel, 1940; Mills, Shaw, Elvehjem and Phillips, 1940). Adrenal cortical extract, desoxycorticosterone acetate and anterior pituitary extract fail to prevent adrenal hemorrhage in rats on such a deficient diet (Mushett and Unna, 1941). While it has been suggested, on a morphologic basis, that adrenal cortical insufficiency exists in these vitamin-deficient rats (Ashburn, 1940), no physiological evidence has been provided to indicate that the adrenal changes are associated with impairment of adrenal function. To gain at least suggestive evidence on this point a study was made of the response of animals on a pantothenic acid-deficient diet to water administered by stomach tube. The basis of these tests was the well-established finding that marked deficiencies in water diuresis and...