Autonomic neuropathy of the adrenal gland of rats after alloxan diabetes.

Six alloxan-diabetic male rats with blood glucose levels between 250 and 420% were sacrificed. Their adrenal glands were extracted and studied by Holmes technique and the modified Gross Bielschowsky stain. Degenerative changes in the nerve fibres ending in the cortex and those reaching the medulla were noticed together with chromatolysis of the chromaffin cells. These findings are similar to the autonomic neuropathies described by other workers in the digestive tract and urinary bladder. This work gives histological evidence of the biochemical findings of reduced plasma catecholamines in longstanding human diabetics.