Phosphorus metabolism of the adrenal gland: effect of cold stress on the labeling of phospholipid and RNA nucleotides with radioactive inorganic phosphate.

Abstract

PREVIOUSLY it was reported that exposure of rats to a cold environment (3± 1δ C) for both short periods (2, 3, 6 hours) and somewhat longer ones (2, 4, 8, 16 days) caused an increase in the incorporation of radioactive phosphorus (P32) into the inorganic phosphate, 20-minute hydrolyzable phosphorus, and total acid-soluble phosphorus of the adrenal gland, without concomitant change in phosphorus concentration. Evidence was presented for the view that this could be explained by an increase in the rate at which inorganic P32 passes from the extracellular to the cellular portion of the gland (Nicholls and Rossiter, 1955a). Furthermore, there is good evidence that the early (2 or 3 hours in the cold) response in the adrenal phosphorus metabolism is caused by the release of endogenous ACTH from the pituitary, and that the later response (8 days in the cold) is, in part at least, associated with an increase in the activity of the thyroid gland (Nicholls and Rossiter, 1955b).