Hypothalamic control of adrenaline secretion in response to insufficient glucose.

1. The rise of plasma glucose consequent upon the release of adrenaline following the systemic administration of 3-O-methylglucose is prevented by previous infiltration with lignocaine of the lateral hypothalamic area on both sides.2. The similarity between this effect and that of the same procedure in preventing the hypersecretion of gastric acid in response to the same stimulus, together with the known fact that hypoglycaemia or the systemic administration of some glucose analogues produce both gastric and adrenal medullary hypersecretion, provides strong presumptive evidence that there exists in the lateral hypothalamic area a chemoreceptor which controls the release of adrenaline. The cells of this receptor like those of the chemoreceptor controlling gastric acid secretion, are activated by an insufficiency of metabolizable glucose.