THE EFFECT OF EMOTION, SHAM RAGE AND HYPOTHALAMIC STIMULATION ON THE VAGO-INSULIN SYSTEM

Abstract

If the effect of central excitation on the adrenal system is eliminated (denervation of adrenals, sectioning of the spinal cord), sham rage produced by faradic excitation of the hypothalamus is accompanied by a fall in blood sugar. Since this effect is abolished by subdiaphragmatic vagotomy it is assumed that the hypoglycemia is a result of excitation of the vago-insulin system. The rage reaction causes a fall in blood sugar in cats in which the cervical spinal cord has been sectioned. After vagotomy, rage produces in such animals a slight hyperglycemia which is probably due to the action of sympathin. Fear and struggle cause hypoglycemia in adreno-demedullated rats and no change or a slight rise in the blood sugar (sympathin) in adreno-demedullated-vagotomized rats. Since in normal animals emotional excitation (fear, rage) and sham rage cause hyperglycemia it follows that emotion as well as sham rage causes a discharge over both vago-insulin and sympathetico-adrenal systems with a predominance of the latter.