HISTOCHEMISTRY OF NORADRENALINE IN THE ADRENAL MEDULLA OF RATS AND MICE

Abstract

introduction HISTOCHEMICAL methods have recently been described demonstrating two different kinds of chromaffin cells in the adrenal medulla: 1) after fixation in formalin, some medullary cells exhibit a strong fluorescence in ultraviolet light and the remaining cells fluoresce but feebly (Eränkö, 1951, 1952); 2) treatment with potassium iodate selectively stains some medullary cells brown and the others remain almost colorless (Hillarp and Hökfelt, 1953). Determinations of adrenaline and noradrenaline in microdissected pieces of adrenal medulla, carried out after separation of these catechol amines by paper chromatography (Eränkö, 1954), showed that the noradrenaline content of those medullary cells of the cat and the hamster which fluoresce after formalin fixation is far higher than that of the remaining cells (Eränkö, 1955a, b). Strongly suggestive evidence of similar relations between the fluorescent medullary cells and noradrenaline has been obtained in studies with some other mammals (Eränkö, 1955c).