Abstract
Cortisol can prematurely induce glutamine synthetase activity in the chick embryo retina. Under appropriate conditions, this effect can be enhanced by addition of low levels of actinomycin D; this enhancement is reversibly inhibited by cycloheximide. The magnitude of the effect is a function of time of exposure to hormone as well as antibiotic and is also a function of the age of the embryo; within the limits of the present study it did not appear to be a function of actinomycin-D concentration. The data are discussed in terms of current ideas of possible control mechanisms in animal cells.