Yonsei Med J.  1970 Jun;11(1):1-9. 10.3349/ymj.1970.11.1.1.

Effect of Cold and Hot Environments on the Exocrine Pancreas of Rats

• Kim YS
• Kim WJ
• Kim HK
• Hong SS

• KMID: 687631
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3349/ymj.1970.11.1.1

Abstract

Male albino rats fed 8 or 25% casein as a source of protein (designated here as low and high protein diet) were exposed to cold(4-5 degrees C) or heat (36-38 degrees C) environment for 21 days. Another series of rats were exposed alternately between cold and hot environments every other day. The weight of the liver, pancreas, kidneys and testis were increased in rats exposed to the cold environment on both low and high protein regimen. Histologically the pancreatic section from cold and alternating temperature rats showed enlargement of the pancreatic acini, cellular hypertrophy and increase in zymogen granules. The weight of the spleen in hot environment and of pancreas in alternating environment were also increased in rats given high protein diet. In the rats exposed to cold, the volume of the biliary-pancreatic secretion was significantly increased, which may reflect the hypertrophy and weight increase of both liver ,and pancreas, however, the content of amylase and lipase were decreased and trypsin was little changed or increased in case of high protein regimen. In rats exposed to hot environment, in contrast, the amylase content of the juice was Increased in high protein regimen. Little change of pancreatic enzymes were seen in the alternating group. The serum protein of all experimental groups was elevated and the serum amylase was elevated only in rats exposed to the alternating environment. The mortality of rats fed low protein diet was 33.3% in both cold and alternating environments and 25.0% in the hot environment. The mortality of rats fed a high protein diet was lower than low protein regimen, and furthermore, none died in the alternating environment with the high protein regimen. The data indicate that exposure to either cold or hot environment bring about danger to life, and also functional and morphological alterations of digestive viscera. The increased organ weight and digestive secretion in cold environment is suggestive of pituitary-adrenal participation in cold adaptation while no such involovement is apparent in heat adaptation. The higher protein regimen demonstrated protective effect for either cold or hot environmental stress.

MeSH Terms

Animal
Cold*
Diet
Environmental Exposure
Heat*
Male
Organ Weight
Pancreas/metabolism
Pancreas/physiology*
Rats