Stimulation of the adrenal gland of the mongolian gerbil after ovariectomy

Abstract

The effect of ovariectomy on the adrenal gland was studied in the Mongolian gerbil. Castration stimulated cells in the zona fasciculata as well as those in the region between the zona fasciculata and zona reticularis. No alterations occurred in the zona reticularis. The width of the intermediate region was enlarged, the cells were hypertrophic and contained an increased number of concentric whorls of rough endoplasmic reticulum. Smooth endoplasmic reticulum was hypertropic in cells of the zona fasciculata and intermediate region. Many mitochondria in cells of the intermediate region were larger than those in controls. Stimulation of cellular ultrastructure is directly correlated with a significant elevation in plasma cortisol in ovariectomized gerbils.

Effects of gonadectomy in infancy and adulthood on handedness in male and female Mongolian gerbils.

“…We speculate that differences either in production or transformation of adrenal steroids by gonadectomized male and female Mongolian gerbils (Dittmann, 1992) may underlie the complex effects we observed of gonadectomy on gerbils' use of forelimbs while in a tripodal stance. Adrenal glands of gerbils are large (relative to body weight) for a rodent (Cullen, Pare, & Money, 1971) and show unusual structural and secretory characteristics (Kadioglu & Harrison, 1975; Oliver & Peron, 1964; Nickerson, 1971), some of which become exaggerated after gonadectomy (Nickerson, 1975). As Fenske (1986, p. 22) stated, “the adrenal and testicular physiology of the gerbil adrenal gland differs in several aspects from that of other laboratory animals species [sic].” The relationship, if any, between the physiology of gerbils' adrenal glands and effects of gonadectomy on gerbils' use of forepaw when standing tripodally remains to be determined.…”