The Effect of Pituitary Adrenotrophic Hormone on the Cholesterol and Ascorbic Acid Content of the Adrenal of the Rat and the Guinea Pig1

IT HAS ALREADY been reported that in the rat the adrenal cholesterol, a possible precursor of the adrenal cortical steroids, is lowered following administration of pituitary adrenotrophic hormone (Sayers, Sayers, Fry, White and Long, 1944). Preliminary studies (Sayers, Sayers, Lewis and Long, 1944) have indicated that the ascorbic acid content of this gland is also depleted by adrenotrophic hormone. This paper is a more complete report of these effects in the rat and extends the observations to the guinea pig, an animal which cannot synthesize ascorbic acid.