SEPARATION OF RABBIT ADRENAL CELLS BY SEDIMENTATION AT A LINEAR GRADIENT OF ALBUMIN CONCENTRATION

Abstract

The isolated cells of rabbit adrenal glands were separated by the method of sedimentation at a linear gradient of albumin concentration and incubated with ¹⁴C-cholesterol. The corticosterone and cortisol produced by the separated cells were fractionated by thin-layer chromatography and the radioactivities in these steroids were measured. The more rapidly sedimenting cells showed a greater ratio of cortisol production to corticosterone production than the more slowly sedimenting cells. This phenomenon is not due to the decrease of corticosterone production per cell by the former, but to the increase of cortisol production per cell. These results suggest that the rabbit adrenal cortex may be composed of the cells that produce corticosterone and cortisol in different ratio, i. e., physiologically heterogeneous cells.