Adrenal Cortical Changes in Rats With Various Types of Experimental Hypertension*

THE functional and general pathologic changes occurring in rats with experimental hypertension following 1) encapsulation of the kidney, 2) the administration of desoxycorticosterone acetate, or 3) the injection of anterior pituitary preparations, have been reported elsewhere (Masson et al. (1, 2)). The present paper deals with the concurrent histologic and histochemical alterations in the adrenal cortex. Interest in the adrenal changes was initially aroused by Selye's (3) speculation that anterior pituitary preparations induce hypertension by stimulating the release of salt-regulating hormones from the adrenal cortex. Secondly, evidence has appeared that adrenal changes accompany renal damage and experimental renal hypertension. Thus, Olson and Deane (4) observed evidence of increased secretion of salt-regulating hormones in weanling rats with kidney damage from choline deficiency. And a survey (Masson, Corcoran and Page, unpublished) of adrenal weights in 100 rats with hypertension of renal origin showed that the paired adrenal glands were larger (av. wt., 63 mg.) in rats with severe hypertension than in those with hypertension of moderate degree (av. wt., 47 mg.).