Growth Ini-iibition I N the Skin following Direct Application of Adrenal Cor- Tical Preparations

Examination of tlie skin of rodents following adrenalcctomy has shown that the adrenal glands exert a regulatory iiifluence over the growtli of hair. Butcher and Richards ( '39), Butcher ( '41) and Ralli and Graef ('43) observed accelerated growth of hair after adrenal ablation which began as early as t x o to three days following the operation. Stimulation of hyperplasia of tlie hair follicles and bulbs by adrenalectomy was sufficiently strong to overcome the atrophy of the growing portion of hair which had been induced by under-feeding (Butcher and Richards, '39) or by prior feeding of a diet deficient in the filtrate factors of tlie vitamin B complex (Ralli and Graef, '45). Conversel;v, the latter authors found tliat adrenal cortical extract and, particalnrly, desoxycorticosterone acetate reduced the hyperplasia of hair follicles and bulbs which followed adrenalectomy. Thus, it appears that tlic adrenal cortex normally acts directly or indirectly as an inhibitor of hair growth. Tikewise, it has been shon7n that parenteral administration of a hormone of the anterior liypophysis (adrenocorticotropiii), may inhibit growth of hair, epidermis and, to a lesser degree, of sebaceous glands (Baker, Ingle, Li and Evans, this journal). In that report other evidence was summarized