Long-term effects of adrenal and ovarian ablation on the regulation of energy exchange in the female rat.
Body weights of female rats in six postsurgical groups were observed over 120 days. Ovariectomy increased body weight as compared with controls, whereas adrenalectomy decreased it. Weights of animals that were both ovariectomized and adrenalectomized were intermediate between those of controls and adrenalectomized groups. The body weights of adrenalectomized rats that were not salt dependent resembled those of animals that had not undergone adrenal surgery. Plasma levels of corticosterone and progesterone were determined by radioimmunoassay. Adrenalectomy that resulted in salt dependency, whether or not in conjunction with ovariectomy, markedly decreased corticosterone levels. Ovariectomy alone or in conjunction with adrenalectomy decreased progesterone levels. The increased body weight of the group that was both ovariectomized and adrenalectomized over the group that was only adrenalectomized suggests that the decreased body weight generally observed for adrenalectomized animals may relate to mechanisms of voluntary regulation rather than frank debilitation.
D000315:Adrenalectomy; D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D002369:Castration; D003345:Corticosterone / Q000097:blood; D004735:Energy Transfer; D005260:Female; D011374:Progesterone / Q000097:blood; D051381:Rats; D013997:Time Factors
D011374:Progesterone; D003345:Corticosterone