INCREASED ULTRAVIOLET SENSITIVITY DUE TO PINEALECTOMY

Abstract

Pinealectomized rats seemed to become more sensitive to ultraviolet rays, as far as the grade of photosensitivity was measured through observations of erythematous change of the skin occurring after 90-120 minutes' irradiation. This result, increased ultraviolet sensitivity of rat due to pinealectomy, may be an important evidence suggesting the role of the pineal organ itself as a photoreceptor and/or a source of an agent regulating photosensitivity also in the mammals, which fact has long been postulated with considerable reasonability from the view points of comparative anatomy and endocrinology, but lacking a definite proof.