The Pituitary Adrenotrophic Hormone Control of the Rate of Release of Serum Globulins From Lymphoid Tissue1¹

THE SYNTHESIS in the liver of the albumin of the blood has been well established, whereas a significant portion of serum globulins maybe produced extra-hepatically. A generalized production of the blood globulins in the cells of the reticulo-endothelial system has been suggested by numerous investigators, and has been chiefly indicated from studies of antibody production and from clinical data. Recently, interest in the physiology of plasma proteins has been manifested particularly with respect to factors influencing their regeneration. Emphasis has been on the parenteral utilization of various sources of protein nitrogen. The proteins of tissues have also received attention as a possible source of plasma protein, and Whipple and his colleagues (Madden and Whipple, 1940; Whipple, 1938, 1942; Whipple and Madden, 1944) have suggested the existence of a dynamic equilibrium between blood and tissue proteins. The hypothesis has recently been suggested that the rate of lymphoid tissue dissolution is normally under pituitary-adrenal cortical control (White and Dougherty, 1944).