Summary
It has been attempted to determine in which parts of the brain-stem lesions have an inhibitory effect on the compensatory hypertrophy, which normally follows unilateral adrenalectomy. Lesions were made by means of the stereotaxic technique at 34 points in the mid-line of the brain-stem. The diameter of the lesions was approximately 1 mm. They were regularly distributed over the entire diencephalon, the septal area and the rostral part of the mesencephalon. Two days after the lesions had been placed the left adrenals were removed. Six days later the animals were sacrificed, compensatory hypertrophy values were determined and compared with those in control animals.
Lesions in a remarkably large area had an inhibitory effect on compensatory hypertrophy. This area includes the entire diencephalon with the exception of a region in its dorsal part and it extends into the septal area and the mesencephalon. The most acceptable explanation of these findings is that the lesions inhibit compensatory hypertrophy not because they destroy a specific neuro-endocrine center but because they bring about a general disturbance of homeostatic mechanisms in the brain-stem.
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Moll, J. Localization of brain-stem lesions inhibiting compensatory adrenal hypertrophy following unilateral adrenalectomy. Zeitschrift füur Zellforschung 49, 515–524 (1959). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00338861
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00338861