The effect of orchiectomy and androgen supplement on the adrenal cortex and medulla of rats.

Orchiectomy in rats resulted in retarded body growth, and an increase in thymus and adrenal weights. With concomitant increase in adrenal cholesterol and corticosterone contents, adrenal norepinephrine, a minor component of medullary hormones, and the total catecholamine contents were also increassed by the operation. These changes were prevented or to be recovered by 2mg of testosterone propionate supplement (1mg per rat per week for 2 weeks). A conventional estimation of the cortical and the medullary volumes revealed that orchiectomy caused a marked increase in the whole adrenal and cortical volumes and also an increase in the medullary volume, although it was not statistically significant. The data suggest that androgen in male rat affects not only the adrenal cortex but also the medulla.