ELECTROSHOCK AND THE RAT ADRENAL CORTEX

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Abstract
THERE have been many clinical studies on the blood eosinophile and lymphocyte levels in patients following electroshock therapy.1 All seem to agree that there is a definite fall, similar in most ways to that seen after corticotropin or epinephrine administration. Altschule and associates2 state that the degree of fall tends to decrease as therapy is continued for long periods. Hoagland, Pincus and associates3; Early, Hemphill, and associates,4 and Ashby5 have demonstrated adrenocortical activation following electroshock in the changes in the urinary 17-ketosteroids, uric acid, inorganic phosphate, sodium, potassium, and neutral reducing lipid. Hoagland, Pincus and associates1b state that these changes can also be produced with subconvulsive electroshock and claim that each electroshock is equivalent in effect to 100 mg. of corticotropin, while Early and associates4 state that one electroshock "mobilizes more than 50 mgm. of ACTH." On the other hand, Simon, Bowman, and