The influence of adrenalectomy on muscle constituents.

The following studies were initially undertaken to investigate the quantitative relations of potassium changes in blood and muscle after adrenalectomy in the light of the work done on the nature of potassium accumulation (Boyle & Conway, 1941). In the course of the investigation the mean values of the known and quantitatively important substances in muscle and plasma were determined. These include Na, K, Ca, Mg, Cl, HCO3, pH, water, inorganic phQsphate, total phosphate, urea, and total molecular concentration in plasma; Na, K, Ca, Mg, Cl, water, carnosine, anserine, total phosphate, total acid-soluble phosphate, adenosinetriphosphate, phosphocreatine glucose-6-phosphate, glucose1-phosphate, fructose-6-phosphate, fructose1:6-diphosphate, triose phosphate, phosphoglyceric acid, and phosphopyruvic acid in muscle. The results were used to calculate the change in nondiffusible material in the muscle fibre as well as the sum of the electrical charges thereon (71 and e values) following adrenalectomy with a view to interpreting more fully the cation changes. While this was the primary object of the present study, the greatly altered concentrations of the hexose esters appear to provide results of interest with respect to the changes in the intermediary metabolism of carbohydrate.