Interrelationships of Desoxycorticosterone, Cortisone and Vitamin C in the Genesis of Mesenchymal Lesions.

Abstract

Male guinea pigs were placed on a scorbutogenic diet and treated as follows: (1) 5 ml. orange juice daily per os; (2) daily subcut. injns. of 5-10 mg. of cortisone acetate (11-dehydro-17-hydroxycorticosterone acetate); (3) daily subcut. injns. of 5 mg. of DCA (11-desoxycorticosterone acetate); (4) untreated scorbutic controls. Cortisone prevented all symptoms of scurvy except slight subcut. hemorrhages, and the animals grew normally. DCA intensified the manifestations of scurvy, especially the arthritis which appeared earlier and was more severe than in the scorbutic controls. The adrenal cortical hypertrophy of scurvy was completely prevented by cortisone and only partially so by DCA. Total blood glutathione was decreased in all exptl. groups and this was more marked in the cortisone-treated animals. The authors point out the possibility of using the scorbutic guinea pig for the assay of anti-arthritic compounds.