ADRENOCORTICAL ACTIVITY IN THE MALNOURISH ED NEWBORN RAT

Newborn rats (4 day-old) were subjected to chronic malnutrition throug h their mothers submitted to an intermittent fasting (one day out of t wo) during 41 days. These offspring were compared with others undergoi ng a treatment of a 21 days malnutrition followed by 20 days ad libitu m realimentation. Rats whose mothers were nourished ad libitum with a standard diet served as controls. The body growth was hindered by the malnutrition but restored when fasting was followed by realimentation. The weight of the encephalon, the heart and the ovary was unchanged. In contrast, testicle atrophy was observed without correction by reali mentation. A corticoadrenal activation characterized by art increase i n blood and adrenal corticosterone levels and by an adrenal gland hype rtrophy was observed in undernourished animals. A lower response of th e adrenal cortex to ether stress (added stress) was also observed. All these perturbations were suppressed when fasting was followed by refe eding.