Adrenalectomy and Replacement Therapy in Lactating Rats

In previous studies of the effects of adrenalectomy on lactation in the rat [Folley & Cowie, 1944; Cowie & Folley, 1947a, b] we have shown, in agreement with others [Gaunt, 1941; Gaunt, Eversole & Kendall, 1942], that the operation causes a serious secretory decline but not the complete abolition of lactation. As is well known [see Ingle, 1944; Young, 1945], adrenalectomized animals, at any rate in the absence of salt therapy, may show a reduction in appetite, and since a diminution in food intake would adversely affect lactation, it is pertinent to inquire how far the lactational decline following adrenalectomy is due to anorexia, and how far to the disruption of some more direct functional relationship between the adrenals and mammary glands. We have attempted to answer this question by means of the paired-feeding technique. The experiments described in this paper give a partial answer to this question, but