Failure of corpuscles of Stannius from winter flounder (Pseudopleuronected americanus) to synthesize adrenocorticosterois in vitro

THE corpuscles of Stannius, supposedly endocrine glands, are peculiar to teleostean fishes. Their function is uncertain1, but Rasquin2 has suggested that they are concerned in osmoregulation. Unequivocal evidence that the interrenal tissue of teleosts is the homologue of the adrenal cortex3,4 strongly suggests that a role other than production of corticosteroids be attributed to the corpuscles of Stannius. In order to supply direct evidence to support this assumption, procedures used in studies on interrenal tissue of Fundulus heteroclitus 4 were applied to corpuscles of Stannius collected from Pseudo-pleuronectes americanus. Sixty-one fish, caught in Niantic Bay and Long Island Sound, Conn., in December 1958 yielded 95 corpuscles of Stannius weighing 104.7 mgm. This tissue and 162 mgm. of mesonephric kidney which served as control tissue, were separately incubated with tritiated progesterone in a manner previously described4.