Distribution and Concentration of Adrenaline and Noradrenaline in the Adrenal Medulla of the Rat Following Reserpine‐Induced Depletion

E ränkö O. and V. H opsu . Distribution and concentration of adrenaline and noradrenaline in the adrenal medulla of the rat following reserpine‐induced depletion. Adrenaline and noradrenaline concentrations in the adrenal medulla were determined after chromatographic separation by fluorometry. The chromaffin reaction, the iodate reaction and formalin‐induced fluorescence were used as histochemical reactions and their intensities in the sections were quantitatively measured by microphotometry. Four mg/kg of reserpine daily for 4 days caused a pronounced loss of adrenaline and noradrenaline and recovery took about 3 weeks. During the recovery adrenaline and noradrenaline concentrations increased proportionally. The chemical and the histochemical measurements gave identical results. There was no evidence of local resynthesis of noradrenaline in excess of that of adrenaline. The results are at variance with observations reported earlier from other laboratories.