EFFECTS OF THIOUREA ON THE ADRENAL GLANDS OF CHICK EMBRYOS

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Abstract
Five doses of 0.5cc of 0.4% thiourea were injected into yolk sacs of 48 White Plymouth Rock embryos on alternate incubation days 8-16. Each embryo received a total dose of 10 mg of the drug. Controls were 93 embryos which either were uninjected or injected with 0.5cc distilled water. Embryos were killed daily from days 8-20. On incubation days 18-20 the adrenal cortical cords from thiourea-injected chick embryos were atrophied and the medullary regions hypertrophied. Ascorbic acid was present in the adrenals during days 10-20. There was no apparent difference in its amount or distribution in control or thiourea-injected embryos. No significant difference was observed in the total lipid content of adrenal cortical cells in control and thiourea-injected embryos. Cholesterol was not observed in the adrenal cortical cells until the 11th day. On days 11-20 these cells in the thiourea-injected embryos contained considerably less cholesterol than those of the controls.