  We point out that the proton-neutron energy contribution, for low multipoles
(in particular for the quadrupole component), effectively renormalizes the
strength of the pairing interaction acting amongst identical nucleons filling
up a single-j or a set of degenerate many-j shells. We carry out the
calculation in lowest-order perturbation theory. We perform a study of this
correction in various mass regions. These results may have implications for the
use of pairing theory in medium-heavy nuclei and for the study of pairing
energy corrections to the liquid drop model when studying nuclear masses.
