Relation of the Adrenal Cortex to Vitamins A, B1and C*

An early observation which was suggestive of a relationship between the endocrines and vitamins, was the hypertrophy of the adrenal glands in vitamin B and C deficiencies. As chemical knowledge of the vitamins has developed with the isolation of vitamin C (a hexuronic acid) and provitamin A (carotene), the concentration of these substances in the adrenal cortex has been found to be greater per gram of tissue than in any other animal tissue investigated. To a lesser degree, a similarity of symptoms in cortical insufficiency and some vitamin deficiencies is suggestive of a functional relationship; for example, both vitamin A and the adrenal cortex are necessary in resistance to infections. When the vital hormone of the adrenal cortex became available in an extract (Hartman, MacArthur and Hartman, 1927; Pfiffner and Swingle, 1929; Hartman and Brownell, 1930) it was possible to apply new methods to the investigation of the function of this gland. It seemed that a study of the influence of this extract on the onset or amelioration of symptoms caused by a diet partially or completely free of the vitamin in question would further contribute to solving the problem of a relationship between the adrenal cortex and these vitamins. This influence has been studied with vitamins A, B1 and C. The data will be considered in the order vitamin C, B1 and A, respectively, as the investigation was carried on in this sequence and the more extensive observations were made on vitamin C.