THE EFFECT OF DEHYDRATION ON ADRENAL SECRETION AND ITS RELATION TO SHOCK

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Abstract
In cats acute dehydration was produced by diuresis as Balcar, Sansum and Woodyatt first suggested, and the changes in the functioning of the sympathetic system were determined by variations in adrenal secretion. The rate of the denervated heart (in 9 exps.) and the contraction of the denervated nictitating membrane furnished the indicator for adrenal secretion. The results indicate that acute dehydration stimulates medulliadrenal secretion and thereby causes an increase in the rate of the denervated heart or a contraction of the nictitating membrane. No increase in the rate of the denervated heart accompanies dehydration if the adrenals are inactivated. Reasons are given for regarding asphyxia, resulting from a diminished blood flow, as the means by which dehydration stimulates secretion of adrenin. The increase in the total vol. of red blood corpuscles circulating in the dehydration is the result of sympathico-adrenal stimulation of the spleen, since no increase occurs if the spleen and the adrenals are denervated. Activity of the sympathetic nervous system explains certain phenomena noted in clinical or experimental dehydration, such as the rapid heart rate, the decreased clotting time of the blood, and the higher level of blood sugar. The similarity between traumatic shock and dehydration is stressed in that both conditions are characterized by vasoconstriction from activity of the sympathetic nervous system and a slowing of the blood flow which leads to a reduction in the vol. of the circulating blood.

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