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In the pineal organ of the female rat, proportional changes in the area of contact of pinealocyte processes and glial processes with the perivascular space were found after bilateral adrenalectomy. The contact area was evaluated by measuring the length of pinealocyte and glial cell membranes directly abutting on the basal lamina. In the normal female rat, 40% of the contact area is occupied by pinealocyte and 60% by glial cell processes. Fourteen days after bilateral adrenalectomy, this proportion is reversed. In addition, cell counts demonstrate that more pinealocytes gain access to the pericapillary space due to the experimental conditions. In order to prove whether or not these results indicate an increase of pineal endocrine activity, the melatonin-forming enzyme hydroxyindole-O-methyltransferase (HIOMT, E.C. 2.1.1.4) was assayed. After bilateral adrenalectomy the HIOMT activity was found to significantly increase.

In endemic pantothenic acid deficiency of some Japanese populations, increased occurrence of hypertension has been described. However, all attempts to produce hypertension experimentally by means of pantothenic acid deficiency have failed up to now. As a consequence, the observations made in Japan have largely been ignored. In this paper, pantothenic acid deficiency will be shown to be a factor in the experimental origin of hypertension due to adrenal regeneration.

Bilaterally adrenalectomized female SPF Wistar rats were given tap water containing various concentrations of sodium chloride to drink ad lib. After a survival period of 14 days the animals were killed by perfusion-fixation. Their brains were removed, fixed in picric acid formalin solution and embedded in Paraplast. Serial sections of median eminence and hypophysial posterior lobe were cut and stained with crotonaldehyde-fuchsine. In the stained sections the amount of CRF-granules visible in the external zone of the median eminence, and the amount of "classical" neurosecretory material (NSM) occuring in the internal zone of the median eminence and in the posterior lobe of the hypophysis were estimated. After administration of drinking solutions to which 0%-1% sodium chloride were added, the amount of CRF-gr anules increased with increasing NaCL uptake, whereas the amount of "classical" NSM was not changed. Application of tap water containing 2% NaCl led to a marked decrease in the amount of "classical" NSM but did only slightly impair the amount of CRF-granules. From the findings it is concluded that 1. following bilateral adrenalectomy administration of sodium chloride inhibits the secretion of CRF-granules; 2. CRF-granules and "classical" NSM, although histochemical identical, have different functional significances; 3. the mechanisms regulating the secretion of CRF-granules are different from those controlling the release of "classical" NSM.

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