Acid Mucopolysaccharide Content of Dermal Connective Tissue of Normal and Stressed Rats

Abstract

PREVIOUS investigations here and elsewhere have shown that glucocorticoid hormones as well as stress decrease the diffusibility of intradermally injected colloidal particles. Inhibition of diffusibility occurs when the colloidal material is injected both with and without hyaluronidase, ‘the spreading factor’¹. Schiller and Dorfman² reported that cortisone acetate depressed sulphate (Na₂ ³⁵SO₄) incorporation in chondroitin sulphate and carbon (acetatel-¹⁴C) incorporation in chrondroitin sulphate and hyaluronic acid of rat skin. On the other hand, Hayes and Baker³ reported enhanced spread of a hæmoglobin–hyaluronidase solution in the skin of rats which had been injected daily for 37 days with ‘Lipo Adrenal Extract’. Clay and Nelson⁴ reported depressed spread of India ink as well as indian ink–hyaluronidase solutions in the skin of rats which had been stressed as long as 4 months with elevated environmental temperatures. The authors found that a single injection of cortisone acetate⁵ or a short period of forced swimming⁶ in heat-treated rats caused a marked increase in dermal diffusibility.