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This is a record of informal discussions between experts and research workers in this field and is, as would be expected, of a highly technical biochemical and physiological quality. The members, with the exception of Professor Hans Selye of Montreal, work at universities and other centres in the U.S.A., and there are two guests from Great Britain.
In an introduction, Dr. Frank Fremont-Smith stresses the importance of the multi-discipline approach and of free informal discussions, and warns against difficulties which may be partly semantic and partly psychological.
Professor Selye discusses mechanisms through which the adrenal cortex can produce qualitatively different effects. He explains his now well-known theory of stress and 'disease of adaptation'. He describes his experimental work on rats, and there are illustrations of his air pouch techniques in the skin of rats where experiments can be accurately observed and measured.
Selye believes that the adrenal cortex plays an essential part in causing the bodily changes which occur during adaptation to stress (e.g. to cold, infections, injuries, nervous strain, etc.). A stimulus from the target area provokes the pituitary gland to liberate A.C.T.H. The latter causes the adrenals to release mineralo-corticoids (which stimulate inflammation) and gluco-corticoids (which are anti-inflammatory). These are in proportion, but when this is disturbed, diseases of adaptation are produced. S.T.H. (growth hormone of the pituitary) also stimulates inflammation. Selye describes conditioning of these effects at various levels.
Dr. Ingle contends that the adrenals may play only a permissive rôle and that the adreno-cortical steroids may not themselves be the cause of the changes, and that some responses to stress are extra-adrenal. He describes his studies.
Dr. Sayers argues that the concept of diseases of adaptation is very difficult to prove or disprove, and that advances in methodology are necessary rather than to 'juggle co