Pituitary Inhibitory Effects of Digitoxin and Hydrocortisone.

Summary Digitoxin and hydrocortisone administered in a dose of 0.5 mg/100 g body weight daily did not significantly affect the growth rate of rats, although 1 mg/100 g of hydrocortisone markedly inhibited growth. Digitoxin and hydrocortisone caused atrophy of the adrenal glands but had no effect on the absolute weights of the testes, thyroid and anterior pituitary glands. Pretreatment of rats with a single dose of digitoxin did not prevent the stress-induced fall in adrenal ascorbic acid although chronic treatment completely prevented this effect in a manner quantitatively similar to hydrocortisone. Daily treatment with digitoxin or hydrocortisone for 30 days reduced the ACTH content of the anterior pituitary gland to 30-40% > that found in control glands.