The Amount of Epinephrine in Extracts of the Medulla, Cortex and Whole Suprarenal Gland of Rabbits, Pigs, Cattle and Horses, Determinable by Means of Some Colorimetrical and Biological Methods

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Extracts were made from the medulla, cortex and the whole body of the suprarenals of rabbits, pigs, oxen and horses (Of rabbits the whole gland was only investigated, and of pigs the cortex was not examined.), and the epinephrine therein was estimated by means of the colorimetrical method of Folin, Cannon and Denis, that of Suto (Kojima's colorimeter was employed), the rabbit intestine segment method, the blood pressure of the pithed dog, the cat paradoxical pupil reaction, the perfusion of the toad legs vessels and of the rabbit ear. In some cases the extraction was made simply according to Folin, Cannon and Denis, but in the majority of cases an “identically same material” was made by means of liquid air, and a portion was extracted according to Folin and others and the rest according to Suto. Adrenaline hydrochloride crystal of Sankyo was repeatedly purified, and it was used as the standard. The average figures are to be consulted in Table XI on p. 227 and they are again arranged in Table XII with the previous references. The suprarenal gland of the horse gave similar figures of epinephrine regardless of the methods applied, but the gland of the rabbit, pig and cattle yielded on the contrary some other, peculiar figures, peculiar according to the different species of animal. The values of epinephrine varied according to the methods used. For instance, the rabbit intestine segment method gave the smallest value of epinephrine to the gland of the rabbit, while it gave the highest for that of the pig and cattle, in comparison with other methods of determination. The cat paradoxical pupil reaction showed a tendency to give the smallest figures in the biological methods (excepting that by the rabbit intestine segment for the rabbit gland), though the difference was by no means excessive. Both the chemical methods gave commonly smaller values than the biological ones. Furthermore the ratios of values obtainable by various methods varied individually within some large limits in the cases of rabbits, pigs and cattle, but such individual variations were by far small in those of horses. To explain such a striking feature some suggestions are tentatively given in the text. In accordance with the previous finding on the rabbit we were able here again to find in the cortex of cattle and of the horse the substance which gives a positive reaction to the Folin test but none to the Suto test or to the biological tests. The same was proved indirectly for the pig gland. 0.3-0.5% was its concentration in the suprarenals of those animals. In order to indicate the epineprine content of the suprarenal tissue or blood it may be at present advisable from the data above given, to express it in accordance with the proposal made elsewhere in the previous publications from this Laboratory, in the terms of the intensity of its action on the test object or, otherwise expressed, with the qualification with the method used for determination, e. g. the epinephrine-Suto, the epinephrine-Pupil, the epinehhrine-Blood pressure, etc.