Investigations on the morphology and function of adrenocortical tissue regenerated from gland capsular fragments autotransplanted in the musculus gracilis of the rat.

This paper describes the function and morphology of regenerated adrenocortical nodules obtained by implanting, in the musculus gracilis of rats, several (n = 6-7) fragments of the capsular tissue of their excised adrenal glands. Four months after the operation, each bilaterally adrenalectomized rat developed six or seven well encapsulated adrenocortical nodules about 2-3 mm in diameter and always lacking chromaffin cells, and displayed almost complete normalization of basal and stimulated blood levels of corticosterone, but not of aldosterone. In vitro study showed that regenerated nodules were well functioning as far as glucocorticoid production was concerned. Accordingly, electron microscopy and stereology indicated that the majority of the parenchymal cells (independently of their location in the outer subcapsular, middle, or inner portions) closely resembled those of the zonae fasciculata/reticularis of the adrenal gland of age-matched sham-operated rats. By contrast, regenerated nodules evidenced a relative impairment in aldosterone secretion, and this was coupled with the presence of only a few zona glomerulosa-like cells. Such cells were grouped in small islets located near the few connective trabeculae detaching from the capsule, and autoradiography showed that they were the only parenchymal elements of the nodule able to bind [125I]angiotensin-II. The possibility is suggested that the paucity of zona glomerulosa-like cells in regenerated nodules could be ascribed to the absence of zona medullaris, which is currently thought to exert a paracrine control on the growth and secretion of zona glomerulosa in the rat adrenal glands.