SOME EFFECTS OF ABNORMALITIES OF PITUITARY, ADRENAL OR THYROID FUNCTION ON EXCRETION OF ALDOSTERONE AND THE RESPONSE TO CORTICOTROPIN OR SODIUM DEPRIVATION*

Abstract

Aldosterone was measured in the urine of 16 normal subjects and 35 patients with various abnormalities of pituitary, adrenal or thyroid function. Considerable diversity was noted in the quantity of aldosterone and other adrenal steroids in the urine of individual patients with clinical signs and metabolic findings of Cushing''s syndrome or mineralocorticoid excess. In infants with the salt-losing form of congenital adrenal hyperplasia, aldosterone and cortisol metabolites appeared in smaller amounts than might be anticipated in normal children under similar conditions. Although patients with hypopituitarism and hypothyroidism excreted normal amounts of aldosterone under ordinary circumstances, the administration of corticotropin failed to elicit the usual acute rise in aldosterone excretion in these cases. Certain patients with hypopituitarism failed to respond adequately to sodium deprivation. It is suggested that chronic deficiency of corticotropin or other pituitary secretion may reduce or abolish the immediate increase of aldosterone excretion usually elicited by administration of corticotropin or sodium deprivation.