[Problem of thickening of the adrenal cortex in acute thermal stress].

The problem was studied on albino rats: five rats served as controls; five--were overheated in a thermochamber at 45 degrees C up to the state of motor excitation (the first series); five--up to the heat stroke (the second series). By means of cytometry it was statistically stated that the cross section area of the fascicular zone spongiocytes of the adrenal cortex in the first series decreased by 14,77% in comparison with the control. The cross section area of the adrenocorticocytes of the reticular zone in the animals of the second series decreased by 7,91%. The vascular reaction of the adrenal cortex in the animals of the first series was manifested in hyperemia, which increased in animals of the second series. Hence, the adrenal cortex thickness is the result of blood congestion rather than derived from real hypertrophy; an abrupt vasodilatation disturbs the parallelism in spongiocytes arrangement, that gives a semblance that the thickness of the reticular cortex zone goes at the expense of the fascicular zone.