WATER INTOXICATION IN RELATION TO THYROID AND ADRENAL FUNCTION1

Abstract
Hyperthyroid rats showed an increased diuretic response to water and a marked resistance to water intoxication. The resistance was probably due in part to the fact that hyperthyroid animals lose less chloride than normal ones in water diuresis. In hypothyroidism, produced by thiourea or thiouracil, the diuretic response was normal and there was no increased susceptibility to water intoxication. The characteristic effects of hyperthyroidism were largely abolished by adrenalectomy. Adrenal cholesterol was depleted in both normal and hyperthyroid animals given large doses of water, and the extent of the depletion was not apparently related to the severity of the symptoms.