THE ANTERIOR PITUITARY AND ITS RELATION TO THE ADRENAL CORTEX IN WATER DIURESIS1

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Abstract
Previous findings that hypophysectomized rats show a greatly delayed diuretic response to water were confirmed. This effect of hypophysectomy is persistent and unchanging between 1 and 17 wks. after operation. It is not due to hypotension or to fasting. Hypophysectomized rats, in contrast to normal ones, excrete normal saline''solns., given either orally or intraperit., at about the same rate as they do water given by mouth. There is a delay in absorption of water given orally, but the predominant cause of the delayed diuresis lies in an inability to excrete normally water that is absorbed. The deficiency is not repaired by an ant. pituitary extract which restores growth and appetite to normal or above, nor by doses of thyroxin which restore basal metabolism to normal, nor. by a combination of the two. It is, however, almost completely repaired by relatively small doses of cortical extract or DCA, and for this and other reasons is considered to be primarily due to adrenal cortical deficiency. These observations provide another instance supporting the use of water diuresis tests (Power-Robinson-Kepler) in the diagnosis of mild adrenal insufficiency.