Thee effects of adrenalectomy and catecholamine replacement therapy on survival were studied in Meriones unguiculatus, the Mongolian gerbil. Adrenalectomized gerbils that received epinephrine lived significantly longer than the controls untreated adrenalectomized gerbils) and animals that received either norepinephrine or a combination of epinephrine and norepinephrine. Results also indicated that these epinephrine-treated animals lost more depot fat that either controls or other groups receiving treatment. In spite of the short survival benefit given by epinephrine, the mechanisms governing the critical adrenal dependency in this species remain unknown
