ROLE OF THE ADRENAL CORTEX AND THE THYROID IN THE MOBILIZATION OF NITROGEN FROM THE TISSUES IN FASTING*

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Abstract
THE RATE of mobilization of nitrogen from body tissues is, like most physiological processes, influenced profoundly by the concentration of circulating hormones. Of the latter, the thyroid hormone, the adrenal cortical steroids, and the anterior pituitary growth hormone appear to be of particular importance. Participation of the thyroid and the adrenal cortex in protein mobilization has been emphasized by a variety of clinical and laboratory investigations. Generally, the effects of the thyroid and adrenal cortical hormones have been assessed by measurements of the level of nitrogen excretion, and, in clinical and experimental diabetes, the quantity of glucose in the urine. Critical evaluation of the role of growth hormone in protein metabolism has awaited isolation of the growth-promoting principle in purified form. The source of the urinary nitrogen in circumstances of augmented thyroid or adrenal cortical activity has long interested investigators. This question has been related frequently to the existence in the organism of storage or deposit protein.