Summary Of Cortin In The 1930's

In the 1930s, Dr. Ingle and his team set up a series of experiments in order to better understand the working relationship between the pituitary and adrenal glands. They hypothesized that the release of cortin from the adrenal cortex was regulated by the anterior lobe of the pituitary. At the time, it was established that treating animals with high doses of cortin caused the adrenal cortex to regress, and that the same effect was also observed when mice were hypophysectomized.

Dr. Ingle organized six experimental groups of rats. The first group was hypophysectomized but received no treatment; the second normal group had a restricted diet; the third group of normal animals had no dietary restrictions, the fourth normal group was given 10 mL of cortin daily; the fifth group was injected with 0.5 mL of ACTH and received 10 mL of cortin a day; and the sixth group of hypophysectomized rats received 0.5 mL of ACTH but no cortin. After seven days of treatments, the scientists measured the combined weights of the adrenal glands in all of the animals. A lower mass of adrenal glands indicated that the glands had atrophied. …show more content…
Since hypophysectomized animals often eat less, Ingle included an intact group with a restricted diet to determine whether reduced eating would cause weight loss in the adrenal glands. Adrenal atrophy was not observed in this group, so Ingle was able to conclude that the adrenal atrophy was due to reduced activity of the anterior pituitary