SOME PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS ASSOCIATED WITH CHRONIC CALORIC RESTRICTION

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Abstract
The state of activity of the adrenal cortex and of the ovary and uterus was investigated in 2 groups of young adult albino mice maintained for long periods on diets varying as to caloric value. One group was allowed a diet ad libitum while the other group was restricted in calories to 60% of the other. The mice on the restricted diet were in an-estrus, but they responded normally to physiological amts. of estrone. Thus, cell proliferation was still compatible with caloric restriction. The study of the estrus cycle together with the detn. of ovarian and uterine wts. indicated a lowered ovarian hormone production in mice restricted in calories. In contrast to this, these same mice showed evidence of an increased activity of the adrenal cortex; the involution of the thymus, the decrease in lymphocytes, the increase in the ratio of the adrenal to body wt. and the increase in gluconeogenesis all favored this concept. The apparent variance in the secretion of the gonadotropic and adreno-corticotropic hormones from the pituitary suggested that the "general adaptation syndrome" might be operative in mice restricted in calories, i.e., a shift by the pituitary to the elaboration of the essential adrenocorticotropin at the expense of other less critical hormones. The relation of these findings to the inhibiting effect of caloric restriction on tumor formation is described.