The corticoids of the avian adrenal gland

Abstract

The corticoid secretory pattern of four avian species from different orders: the white leghorn chicken, the white king pigeon, the western gull, and the white pekin duck, was studied by in vitro incubation of the adrenal tissue. Corticosterone was the major secretory product. Aldosterone was identified also as a secretory product of the adrenal. A steroid, best characterized in the gull but present in all species, was tentatively identified as 11-dehydrocorticosterone. A partially characterized steroid was produced by the adrenals of all four species. A second steroid, also partially characterized, was present only in extracts from the chicken and gull. Mammalian ACTH had no qualitative effect on the secretory pattern of the adrenal. Only corticosterone production by the adrenals was increased significantly by ACTH. The adrenal glands of the chicken and duck were more responsive to ACTH than the adrenals from the gull and pigeon. Possible age or sex differences were investigated in the western gull, but no significant differences were found. Although only four species of birds were studied, the consistency of the adrenal secretory pattern seen in the class aves to date has not been encountered in any other vertebrate class.