Pressor responses to norepinephrine in humans before and after corticosteroids

Abstract

Pressor responses produced by intravenous injections of graded doses of norepinephrine were recorded in ten normal subjects before and after pharmacologic doses of glucocorticoids. Two subjects had been pretreated with 9α-fluorocortisol. Although a considerable variation was found in the responsiveness to repeated norepinephrine injections, variance analysis demonstrated that administration of adrenal cortical hormones and their analogues did not significantly alter the response. These observations do not support the hypothesis that acute administration of corticosteroids in large doses potentiates the pressor effects of catecholamines in the human subject with normal adrenal function.