NONCONJUGATED ADRENOCORTICAL STEROIDS IN HUMAN PLASMA: COMPARISON OF THE NELSON AND SAMUELS METHOD WITH PAPER CHROMATOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUES*

Abstract

In Recent years the method of Nelson and Samuels (1) for the determination of free 17-hydroxycorticosteroids (17-OH-CS) in human plasma has been used extensively. Studies of normal levels of 17-OH-CS and the effect of ACTH administration on these levels have been made (2, 3, 4). During medical or surgical stress an increase in the concentration of plasma 17-OH-CS was observed (5) and a marked rise in the levels prior to death was reported by Sandberg et al. (6). Studies of 17-OH-CS levels in schizophrenic patients under various conditions have also been carried out (7, 8). It should be noted that the Nelson and Samuels method does not measure the corticoid conjugates which have been detected recently in human blood (9).