ADRENAL CORTICAL SECRETION IN RESPONSE TO NICOTINE IN CONSCIOUS AND ANAESTHETIZED DOGS

¹ Department of Physiology, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Nagasaki, Japan

In both conscious and anaesthetized dogs the adrenal cortical secretion in response to nicotine was directly measured. In conscious dogs the adrenal 17-hydroxycorticosteroid secretion rate increased, after the intravenous injection of 0·1 mg/kg of nicotine, from 0·12 ± 0·025 µg/kg/min to 1·61 ± 0·22 µg/kg/min (mean ±S.E.M.). Similar results were obtained in dogs anaesthetized with sodium pentobarbital. After hypophysectomy no increase in adrenal cortical secretion was observed following the administration of the same dose of nicotine. It is suggested that the adrenocortical response to nicotine is mediated through the adrenocorticotrophin release of the pituitary gland.