Carbohydrate metabolism and adrenal cortical function in the pantothenic acid-deficient rat.

A relationship between pantothenic acid and the adrenal gland has been evident since the earliest work with this vitamin was done. Morgan and Simms (1) found pathologic changes in the adrenals of rats on diets free from “filtrate factor,” and reported (2) that the achromotrichia of rats maintained on these diets could be at least partly reversed by extracts of the thyroid and of the adrenal cortex. Daft and Sebrell (3) and Nelson (4) likewise described a hemorrhagic adrenal necrosis in rats on deficient diets, which they later showed (5, 6) could be cured by synthetic pantothenic acid. Further evidence for the existence of a relationship between pantothenic acid and the adrenal gland was provided by Ralli and Graef, who found (7) that, when grayed pantothenic acid-deficient rats were adrenalectomized, the new hair growing in was well pigmented. Analyses of melanin content of rat hides showed (8) that the deficient diet produced a decrease in extractable melanin, while adrenalectomy in deficient rats resulted in an increase which could be inhibited by desoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA). Cytological studies by Deane and McKibbin (9) showed the adrenal cortices of pantothenic acid-deficient rats to be enlarged and the zonae reticularis and fasciculata progressively drained of ketosteroids. These changes were interpreted by the .authors to be indications that pantothenic acid deficiency acts as an “alarming agent” for the rat, causing the release of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) which stimulates the adrenal to secrete cortical hormone until exhaustion occurs. Ashburn (6) has also suggested that an adrenal hypofunction may exist in pantothenic aciddeficient rats. The work of Gaunt et al. (lo), who observed a lethargic diuresis in pantothenic acid-deficient rats when water was given by stomach tube and a decreased resistance to water intoxication, provided evidence which is consistent with this theory. This subject has been recently reviewed (11). If it is true that pantothenic acid deficiency imposes a continuous stress on the adrenal cortex, then, according to Selye (12, 13), in the final stages