1. The resistance of rats to the injection of histamine has been studied quantitatively by determining the LD 50 for this substance in normal and adrenalectomized rats, and in rats whose adrenals had been enucleated 2 months previously.2. The LD50 for adrenalectomized rats is about one-fiftieth, and for enucleated rats greater than one-third of that for normal animals. The LD50 for adrenalectomized rats injected with 100 \g=m\g of adrenaline was similar to that of enucleated rats.3. The administration of 100\g=m\g of adrenaline to enucleated animals significantly increased their resistance to histamine, but did not bring it back to normal values; the difference between enucleated and normal rats thus appeared to be related, in part, at least, to the absence of the medullary secretion; no data are available to account for the rest of the difference.An earlier study of the resistance of rats with enucleated adrenals to intraperitoneal injections of hypertonic glucose solution [Brogi, 1954a] has shown that 13 days after enucleation, the resistance of the animals to this form of stress, markedly lowered as a consequence of the operation, is fully re-established. Together with the observations of Pellegrino (personal communication) on the resistance of enucleated rats to phloridzin diabetes and to fasting, these data show that 15 days after enucleation a normal resistance to some forms of noxious stimulus is re-established. On the other hand, according to Houssay [1952], enucleated adrenals are relatively little able to protect animals against the effects of histamine, the lethal dose of this substance in rats enucleated for an unstated length of time (presumably at least 1 month) being onetenth of that which kills normal animals.Since, therefore, the protective ability of the enucleated adrenal does not seem to apply equally to all noxious stimuli, it was thought worth while (i) to study the phenomenon observed by Houssay [1952] more accurately and from a quantitative point of view, and (ii) to investigate the relationship of this phenomenon to the absence of the adrenal medulla which is characteristic of the enucleated gland.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
AnimalsTwo hundred and forty female albino rats of the Italico strain were divided into the following five groups: group 1, normal, unoperated; group 2, adrenalectomized; group 3, adrenalectomized and subsequently given adrenaline; group 4, subjected to adrenal enucleation [Hartman, Brownell & Knouff, 1947]; group 5, enucleated and subsequently given adrenaline. All operations were performed under light ether anaesthesia.