VARIATIONS IN HEPATIC INACTIVATION OF CORTICOSTERONE WITH CHANGES IN FOOD INTAKE: AN EXPLANATION OF IMPAIRED CORTICOSTEROID METABOLISM FOLLOWING NOXIOUS STIMULI12

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Abstract
In studies involving nine different noxious stimuli, all stimuli which diminished food intakes of male or female rats also diminished the capacity of the liver to inactivate adrenal cortical hormones by ring A reduction. All noxious stimuli which failed to affect food consumption also failed to affect corticosterone metabolism. In every case, the loss of hepatic capacity for inactivation of corticosterone following exposure to noxious stimuli could be duplicated exactly in control animals pair-fed to those exposed to the noxious stimuli. Hepatic Δ4-steroid hydrogenase activitjr was found to be a nearly linear function of food intake in the 18 hours immediately preceding the assay. Variations in water intake, and in ACTH or corticosterone secretion rate or concentration were not involved in the loss of hepatic Δ4-steroid hydrogenase activity following exposure to noxious stimuli. Three in vivo experiments demonstrated that variations in the rate of ring A reduction of adrenal cortical hormones bj' liver in vitro accurately predict variations in the overall rate of corticosteroid metabolism in intact animals.