[The effects of adrenalectomy and of hydrocortisone administration on adenylate cyclase activity in rabbit adipose cells (author's transl)].

Adenylate cyclase activity in rabbit adipocyte plasma membranes was studied with special reference to the effects of adrenalectomy and administration of cortisol in vivo. Adrenalectomy was accompanied by an increase in adenylate cyclase activity during basal conditions; cortisol (5 mg/kg body wt., intramuscularly) partly prevents this effect of adrenalectomy. The response of adenylate cyclase to corticotropin, epinephrine and norepinephrine stimulation was higher in the adrenalectomized rabbit than in the sham operated animal. Our in vitro results were in agreement with the striking fat mobilization observed in rabbit plasma after adrenalectomy and with the hypolipemic effects of cortisol we had previously observed in both normal and adrenalectomized rabbit.