High Concentration of norAdrenaline in Calves' Suprarenals

Abstract

EXTRACTS of the suprarenal medulla of many mammals, including man, contain both adrenaline and noradrenaline, the latter being present to the extent of about 30 per cent of the total¹. The proportion of noradrenaline in extracts of tumours of the adrenal medulla is much higher². It is possible that this difference may be related to the fact that the tumour cells are relatively undifferentiated and thus may be more comparable with embryonic tissue than with adult tissue. True embryonic tissue is difficult to obtain; but an opportunity arose recently of examining the suprarenal glands of male calves shortly after birth. I am grateful to Dr. R. S. Comline for supplying suprarenals from decerebrate calves. The whole suprarenal glands were removed at the end of the experiment and immediately extracted with 0.1 N hydrochloric acid in the usual way³. The extract was assayed against adrenaline on the rat's uterus and against both adrenaline and noradrenaline either on the rat's colon or on the rabbit's intestine. A high proportion of noradrenaline was found in every extract, as is shown in Table 1.