Abstract

With the accumulation of evidence for a functional zonation of the adrenal cortex, as postulated by Swann (1940) and supported by Sarason (1943) and by Deane and Greep (1946), the origin and functional capacity of new cortical tissue arising after enucleation of the gland acquire new significance.

Adrenal enucleation involves slicing open the capsule and extruding the medulla and most of the cortex (Ingle and Higgins, 1938). If both glands are so enucleated, or if one gland is enucleated and the other totally removed, regeneration of cortical tissue takes place rapidly so that the original volume is restored in about a month. (Because of the regeneration of the cortex, the operation is generally termed demedullation.) The regeneration is dependent upon the presence of the pituitary.

The origin of the new parenchymal tissue is still a matter of controversy. Originally Ingle and Higgins described regeneration as taking place from the capsule,

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