Aldosterone-stimulated feeding and weight gain: interactions with estrogen?

The effects of combined adrenalectomy-ovariectomy and steroid replacement on food intake, spillage, body weight, skeletal growth, and fluid retention were investigated in rats that were fed freely or held to a controlled allotment. The stimulation of feeding and weight gain by aldosterone was not dependent upon the presence of estradiol. Likewise, the suppression of food intake and weight gain brought about by estradiol was not influenced by aldosterone, leading us to conclude that the effects of the two hormones are independent and additive, not interactive. Estradiol and aldosterone each significantly altered the rate of food spillage and in opposite directions. There was a marked reduction in the extent to which estradiol influenced body weight in the controlled feeding situation. Accompanying this was a differential effect of estradiol on body growth. Depending upon feeding condition, estradiol either retarded (free-feeding) or accelerated (restricted) skeletal growth. Aldosterone's stimulation of weight gain was nearly proportional across feeding conditions, and it did not influence body growth.