THE INABILITY OF EPINEPHRINE OR ADRENOCORTICOTROPIC HORMONE TO DEPLETE THE ASCORBIC ACID CONTENT OF THE CHICK ADRENAL¹

Effect of Various Hormone Preparations and Nutritional Stresses in Chicks

“…Subsequent injection of 56 units of ACTH into unstressed chicks has given a similar negative response. This is at variance with the results of Bates, Riddle and Miller (1940) who used newly-hatched chicks, and Jailer and Boas (1950) who used nine-day-old chicks, but is in agreement with those of Dulin (1953) who used 39-day-old chicks. Apparently the chick adrenal becomes more resistant to stimulation by exogenous ACTH as the animal grows older.…”

The Effect of Cold and Debeaking upon the Adrenal Ascorbic Acid Concentration of Chickens Fed Aureomycin Supplement

“…Severe cold was also reported to produce such an effect together with hypertrophy of the adrenal gland, in rats and guinea pigs (Therien and Dugal, 1949;Bacchus, 1951). In chickens, however, ACTH failed to elicitate adrenal ascorbic acid depletion (Bates, Riddle and Miller, 1940;Jailer and Boas, 1950;Zarrow and Zarrow, 1950;Howard and Constable, 1958;Elton, Zarrow and Zarrow, 1959), and birds were regarded as differing from mammals in this respect. Nevertheless, Perek, Eckstein and Eshkol (1959) succeeded in obtaining adrenal ascorbic acid depletion in one year-old hens, following ACTH injections; they were unsuccessful with 3 month-old pullets.…”

The effects of acute stress and of ACTH upon ascorbic acid and lipid content of the adrenal glands of wild rats

“…When such domesticated mammals are exposed to stress, an initial metabolic depletion of the adrenal cortex appears to be the invariable result (Sayers, 1950). On the other hand, the limited amount of information available (Josephson, Taylor, Greenberg & Nadel, 1949;Jailer & Boas, 1950;Zarrow & Baldini, 1952) suggests that adrenal cortical ascorbic acid and lipid depletion may not occur when feral species are exposed to stress. In these laboratories we have for several years been studying the wild strain of the Norway rat, domesticated strains of which species are commonly in use in laboratories throughout the world.…”