Endocrine Reaction to Tissue Injury

IT has been reported previously that tissue damage produces in animals a state of resistance to the lethal effects of a subsequent trauma^1,2. Resistance, as detected by the decrease in post-traumatic mortality, was accompanied by the following functional changes: inhibition of the normal release of histamine from blood cells³; shortening of the bleeding time; and increase of the capillary resistance⁴. All changes could be transferred to normal animals by injection of the serum of traumatized animals. It was also shown that the substance present in the serum and responsible for the resistance was produced by the pituitary and acted through the adrenal cortex⁴.