MEASURMENTS OF ADRENAL CORTICAL ACTIVITY IN YOUNG MEN SUBJECTED TO ACUTE STRESS*†

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Abstract
INTRODUCTION ALTHOUGH there have been many studies of the response of animals and of human subjects to acute physiologic or psychologic stress, usually only a few of the indices of adrenal cortical function have been determined in any one experiment. In this study, we have attempted to identify the degree to which the adrenal cortex is affected in human subjects after exposure to physiologic stress of short duration, by a series of determinations before and for several hours after the stress. The procedures were selected on the basis of experimental reports which have indicated that these determinations reflect adrenal cortical function. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES AND METHODS Twenty-one normal male subjects were immersed for a period of exactly eight minutes in water which had been cooled with ice to a temperature of 9.5° C. The subjects were completely immersed to neck level and allowed only minimal activity in the water. The water had been thoroughly mixed with electric mixers and was maintained at the stated temperature during the period of immersion.