EFFECT OF SODIUM DEPRIVATION AND PINEALECTOMY ON PITUITARY AND PLASMA PROLACTIN IN THE RAT

in Journal of Endocrinology
Author:
RICHARD RELKIN
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A recent study in rats has demonstrated that plasma prolactin levels can be influenced by pineal activity (Relkin, Adachi & Kahan, 1972). In addition, increased plasma prolactin levels as well as increased aldosterone secretory rates are produced in rats by sodium deprivation (Relkin & Adachi, 1973). In an effort to ascertain whether sodium deprivation exerts its effect on plasma prolactin levels via the pineal the following experiment was performed.

Inbred male rats of the Wistar strain were pinealectomized according to the method of Hoffman & Reiter (1965), or sham-pinealectomized, at the age of 8 weeks (185 g), and housed singly in cages under conditions of 10 h light and 14 h darkness. One half of the pinealectomized and sham-pinealectomized animals were fed a sodium-deficient test diet (Hartroft & Eisenstein, 1957) containing 8 μequiv. sodium/g, and the remaining animals were fed a diet containing 108 μequiv. sodium/g. All animals were weighed

 

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