SIMULTANEOUS DETERMINATION OF PLASMA OR WHOLE BLOOD CORTISOL AND CORTICOSTERONE

Abstract

An inexpensive, simple and relatively brief method is described for the simultaneous determination of corticosterone and cortisol in human plasma. Adrenal steroids are extracted from samples of 0.05–2 ml of plasma by methylene chloride and separated by partition chromatography on Celite 535 using methylene chloride and carbon tetrachloride as eluting solvents. Cortisol and corticosterone are estimated by a fluorometric procedure. This method is also applicable for the determination of adrenal steroids in dog blood and rat plasma. Comparable values to the double isotope derivative technique are obtained for corticoid levels greater than 1 μg/100 ml plasma.