The effect of thyroid-feeding and of thyro-parathyroidectomy upon the pituitrin content of the posterior lobe of the pituitary, the cerebro-spinal fluid, and blood

Abstract

The material used for this research was obtained from cats. There were three series of six animals, comprising three males and three females in each group. The animals were healthy adults, of as near a weight and age as possible. One set of six animals was fed with large quantities of fresh ox thyroid for from two to three weeks in addition to their ordinary diet. In the second set thyro-parathyroidectomy was performed on each animal. The cats of the third group were utilised as normal controls. The feeding with thyroid of the first group was begun some time before the operations were done upon the second group. All the animals operated upon showed typical symptoms, and were killed from three to six days after operation. The cerebro-spinal fluid was collected from the fourth ventricle of each cat under aneethesia, the animal then bled, and the blood defibrinated. The pituitary body was dissected out and the posterior lobe separated and dried on a watchglass rapidly at 37° C. The cerebro-spinal fluid was also evaporated and dried at the same temperature. Similar procedures were adopted in the thyroid-fed animals and in the controls.