The effect of premature weaning on the response of rat adrenals to stress and ACTH
Hromadová, M.; Macho, L.; Alexandrová, M.; Sudová, K.; Stukovský, R.
Physiologia Bohemoslovaca 21(4): 329-335
1972
ISSN/ISBN: 0369-9463 PMID: 4346877 Document Number: 52562
Premature weaning influences the function of the adrenals and also their reaction to stress immediately after weaning and, in females, even in adulthood. The adrenal response to ACTH added in vitro, ACTH release from the pituitary and the adrenal reaction to stress were studied in prematurely weaned and normally weaned rats.The adrenal response of prematurely weaned animals to ACTH in vitro was undiminished up to the 45th day, so that the decrease in corticosteroid production was not due to impairment of adrenal function. Resting ACTH release from pituitaries of prematurely weaned rats incubated in vitro was lower at 22 and 30 days, in association with diminished corticosterone production by the adrenals at the same time. Despite the decrease in resting ACTH release, the response of prematurely weaned rat adrenals to ether anaesthesia stress and to vasopressin was not inhibited. On the contrary, in rats 22 and 30 days old and adult females it was actually stimulated.