Urinary Corticosteroid Values of Children as Determined Chemically

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Abstract
IT HAS been demonstrated that the urine of normal adult persons contains material which has biologic activity similar to that of the glycogenic hormones of the adrenal cortex. This urinary material increases under various conditions of stress and of stimulation of the adrenal cortex with adrenocorticotropic hormone. It decreases in amount when the function of the adrenal cortex is impaired. Several chemical methods for the determination of this material have been based on the assumption that it has chemical properties similar to or identical with those of the known cortical hormones. However, none of the chemical methods is entirely specific and all yield values which are much greater than those obtained by bioassay. Nevertheless, the substances determined chemically also fluctuate in some measure as the activity of the adrenal cortex changes. It is probable that the values obtained with some of the chemical methods bear a relation to the biologic activity which is analogous to the relation of the neutral 17- ketosteroids to the androgenic activity of the urine. Various names have been given to the urinary material under discussion. The term “corticosteroids”seems appropriate since the evidence indicates that the material is produced by the adrenal cortex and that its chemical properties are similar to those of adrenal cortical hormones.