LEUCOCYTE PICTURE OF THE RAT: RELATION OF ADRENAL AND SPLEEN

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Abstract
The effect of the adrenal cortex on certain aspects of the blood leucocyte picture has been shown to involve the participation of the spleen. Absence of the spleen prevents the typical response of the lymphocytes and neutrophiles to adrenalin injns. This role of the spleen does not involve a change in its ascorbic acid concn., nor the concn. of the adrenal ascorbic acid. The depression of the eosinophiles following adrenal cortical stimulation with adrenalin was not affected by the absence of the spleen. The eosinophile therefore seemed most unequivocally, of the leucocytes studied, responsive to adrenal cortical activity alone. A marked eosinophilia can be induced with adrenalin in adrenalectomized rats but remain unaffected in number in adrenalectomized-spleenectomized rats. The absolute number of polymorphonuclear leucocytes per cu. mm. of blood and its relationship to the concn. of ascorbic acid of the adrenal glands and spleen of normal intact, adrenalin-injd., and saline-injd. rats as well as for splenectomized and sham splenectomized rats are graphically represented. These data show that the polymorpho-leucocytosis induced with adrenalin injns. is related to decreased ascorbic acid content of the adrenals, but this condition induced by splenectomy is not associated with any change in the adrenal ascorbic acid concn.
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