EFFECTS OF INTRAVENOUS ACTH ON BLOOD LEVELS OF 17-HYDROXYCORTICOSTEROIDS AND CIRCULATING LEUKOCYTES*

Abstract

ALTHOUGH studies on ACTH are numerous, relatively few attempts have been made to determine the effects of the drug, intravenously administered, on the levels of adrenal steroids in the peripheral blood (1, 2, 3). In this investigation normal subjects were studied to determine the responsiveness of theadrenal cortex of man to the intravenous injection of different amounts of ACTH, with thehope that such a procedure could be standardized for later use as a test of glandular function in disease. Changes in the levels of 17-hydroxycorticosteroids in the plasma were followed as a measure of glandular activity. As indicated previously (4), the method of Nelson and Samuels (5) for the determination of 17-hydroxycorticosteroids in blood, although not chemically specific for 17-hydroxycorticosterone (compound F), is a relatively accurate measure of this steroid in man. Since compound F appears to be the chief hormone secreted by the adrenal cortex in man (2, 5), this technique serves as an excellent direct measure of the level of circulating adrenocortical metabolic steroids in the peripheral blood.