"Growth" and the Diabetogenic Action of Anterior Pituitary Preparations

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Abstract
Expts. on adult dogs and puppies, correlated with evidence from the literature, show that the same pituitary extract may be essentially growth (wt.)-promoting or essentially diabetogenic according to the age of the animal and the adequacy of its pancreatic function. The result depends upon pancreatic-hypophysial balance. Puppies treated daily with doses of crude pituitary extract, greatly in excess of those required to produce diabetes in adult dogs, grew very rapidly but did not have diabetes. One puppy, however, treated nearly 5 mos. became diabetic but stopped growing. Infants (and perhaps puppies) have a greater amt. of pancreatic islet tissue in proportion to wt. than adults. Growth hormone preps. induce N retention and probably this action is mediated by the islets. Slight pituitary over-action in children (and puppies) may cause compensatory islet hypertrophy with N retention and growth; in the adult the same may occur causing overwt. but not skeletal changes. If islet tissue cannot maintain this hypertrophy lesions may occur and diabetes result. Many cases of diabetes, therefore, may be caused by pituitary-pancreas imbalance rather than by primary pancreatic lesions. The literature is discussed at length. 27 references.