Search

1. Desiccated liver powder as a dietary supplement to a low sodium diet is effective in counteracting the growth inhibition induced by cortisone acetate in rats only if the steroid is presented orally. It is without demonstrable effect in animals receiving the hormone by injection. It is also without effect in adrenalectomized animals, irrespective of the route of hormone administration. 2. The prevention of growth inhibition by liver powder is not accompanied by other evidences of diminished cortisone activity, i.e., despite normal growth such animals exhibit physiological, anatomical and biochemical changes of the same degree as do cortisone treated rats without liver supplement.

In response to cytotoxic serum nephritis, bilaterally adrenalectomized rats develop hypertension as frequently as do animals with intact adrenals. In order for hypertension to appear among such adrenalectomized rats, it is necessary that a satisfactory state of nutrition be maintained over a period of weeks. In our laboratory, the difficulties encountered in fulfilling this provision have been considerable in spite of the employment of a high NaCl regimen. This experience has led us to wonder whether the conflicting results in the literature relating to the question of hypertension in adrenalectomized animals may not be due, in part, to similar difficulties.