THE EFFECT OF ADRENAL STIMULATION WITH ADRENOCORTICOTROPHIC HORMONE ON THE EXCRETION OF DEHYPROISOANDROSTERONE IN MAN1,2,3,4,5,6

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Abstract
Using a modification of the Pettenkofer reaction as the means of determining urinary dehydroisoandrosterone and related ketonic and non-ketonic chromogens, it was found that the excretion of these steroids paralleled the rise in 17-ketosteroids (Zimmermann reaction) when the normal adult adrenal cortex was stimulated with purified adrenocorticotrophic hormone. A very similar response was induced in a 5-yr.-old girl with rheumatoid arthritis. When an elevation in urinary 17-ketosteroids of comparable degree was induced by stimulation of the testes of normal young men with chorionic gonadotrophin, the level of excretion of dehydroisoandrosterone and other Pettenkofer reactors was unaffected. A quantitative comparison of the increased excretion of ketonic Pettenkofer chromogens (dehydroisoandrosterone) and 17-ketosteroids following the admn. of dehydroisoandrosterone acetate with the rise in these urinary steroids induced by adrenal stimulation in the same subject supports the suggestion that dehydroisoandrosterone and its metabolic and hydrolytic derivatives account for a very significant portion of the 17-ketosteroids of adrenal origin. Accordingly, shifts in the daily excretion of the Pettenkofer chromogens (dehydroisoandrosterone and related compounds) in a given subject may accurately reflect alterations in adrenal activity. The admn. of testosterone propionate to a normal man induced a decline in the excretion of Pettenkofer reactors suggesting a slight suppression of adrenal function.