The Endocrine Glands in Hypophysectomized Pregnant Rhesus Monkeys (Macaca Mulatta) With Special Reference to the Adrenal Glands1

IN CONTRAST to the extensive literature on the adrenal glands of intact pregnant monkeys the writer has found only two reports on these glands in animals hypophysectomized during pregnancy. Gardner and Allen (1942) reported that in mice hypophysectomized on the tenth day after copulation and killed on the twenty-first day, the adrenals were reduced in weight (average 3.8 mg.) as compared to intact pregnant controls (average 6.9 mg.). The cortex was atrophic and its component cells were decreased in size and number. The cortex regressed as rapidly after hypophysectomy in the pregnant as in the nonpregnant mice. Greer (1949) found very little difference in adrenal weights among pregnant intact, pregnant hypophysectomized and nonpregnant rats hypophysectomized for the same period as the pregnant group. All animals were fed thiouracil for the last nine days of the experiment. The results are rather surprising.