Differences in the distribution of β-glucuronidase activity demonstrated with the Fishman-Baker method in the adrenal cortex of albino rats treated with corticosteroids and after hypophysectomy

Histohemical estimation of β-glucuronidase was performed in the adrenals of normal rats, rats treated with corticosteroids and hypophysectomized rats. In these experiments the method described by Fishman and Baker was used. A difference was found between normal rats and rats treated with hydrocortisone and corticosterone on the one hand and hypophysectomized animals on the other. In the first group a positive reaction was found in the zona intermedia, the zona fasciculata, and the zona reticularis. In the second group a positive reaction was found in the male animals exclusively in the zona intermedia and in the female animals in both the zona intermedia and the zona glomerulosa. Although the distribution of the blue precipitate in the adrenal cortex of untreated rats is similar to the distribution of β-glucuronidase as determined histo-biochemically by Nayyar and Glick we doubt, in spite of the observed difference, that the Fishman-Baker method is specific for β-glucuronidase. Replacement of the specific substance 8-hydroxyquinoline glucuronide by 8-hydroxyquinoline did not affect the results.