title: Digitalis-like substance is produced in the hypothalamus but not in the adrenal gland in rats.
abstract: We studied the role of the adrenals on the plasma levels and urinary output of the digoxin-like immunoreactivity in order to elucidate the interrelationship between the adrenals and hypothalamic digoxin-like immunoreactivity. Urine was collected for 24 h 6 days after the bilateral adrenalectomy and then rats were killed by decapitation. Urinary excretion of digoxin-like immunoreactivity did not differ significantly between the sham-operated and adrenalectomized groups, regardless of sodium intake. Plasma levels did not change significantly with sodium-loading, and adrenalectomy did not significantly affect the plasma concentrations of the immunoreactivity. However, bilateral adrenalectomy increased the content of digoxin-like immunoreactivity in the hypothalamus significantly in both rat groups fed with a regular (P less than 0.05) and a high-salt (P less than 0.02) diet. However, when the levels were measured only 16 h after bilateral adrenalectomy, both plasma and hypothalamic contents were significantly higher in the high-salt than the regular-salt group. The correlation between the plasma and hypothalamic content was significant (P less than 0.01). These results strongly suggest that digoxin-like immunoreactivity is produced in the hypothalamus but not in the adrenals, and that the adrenal glands influence the turnover of the hypothalamic endogenous digitalis-like substance.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Medicine, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matsusawa
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ikegaki
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Suga
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nishimura
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yoshimura
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sano
mesh_terms: D000311:Adrenal Glands / Q000378:metabolism*; D000315:Adrenalectomy; D000818:Animals; D001798:Blood Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000378:metabolism; D002298:Cardenolides; D004077:Digoxin; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012503:Saponins; D012982:Sodium, Dietary / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D001798:Blood Proteins; D002298:Cardenolides; D012503:Saponins; D012982:Sodium, Dietary; C034504:digoxin-like factors; D004077:Digoxin