The response of the hypophysectomized cyprinodont, Fundulus heteroclitus, to replacement therapy with cortisol: Effects on blood serum and sodium-potassium activated adenosine triphosphatase in the gills, kidney, and intestinal mucosa

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Abstract

Regulation of the inorganic constituents of the serum is nearly perfect in hypophysectomized Fundulus heteroclitus maintained in salt water, although serum Cl is lower.

Chronic treatment with cortisol had no effect on serum Na or serum Ca; serum K and serum Cl decreased, serum inorganic PO4 and serum Mg increased.

Na + K-ATPase activity increased in cortisol-treated fish in three organs that participate in osmoregulation: the gills, the kidneys (males only), and the intestinal mucosa. The increase in the gills can be correlated with a restoration of total Na exchange, previously reported by Mayer and Maetz (1967). The increased activity in the intestine, previously reported by Hirano et al. (1967) in Anguilla japonica, is presumably associated with the increased rate of Na turnover. Increased activity in the kidneys may reflect an increase in the glomerular filtration rate and (or) a restoration of renal Na retention.

Other effects of cortisol are: a decrease in body weight, an increase in the abundance of circulating erythrocytes, leukocytosis after a single injection or short treatment that is regulated after longer treatment, and an increase in the relative weight of the liver that may be associated with gluconeogenesis. Cortisol had no effect on the relative size of the regressed gonads in either sex.

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    1

    Supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (GB-5509 X).

    2

    Fellow of the National Kidney Foundation 1968–1970.

    3

    Special Research Fellow of the United States Public Health Service, 1968–1969.

    4

    Supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (HE-00834, AM-5015, Research Career Award 4K06 AM 21578).

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