EFFECT OF INTRAVENOUS CORTICOTROPIN ON THE LEVEL OF PLASMA HYDROCORTISONE IN MAN: APPLICATION TO THE ASSAY OF CORTICOTROPIN*

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Abstract
IN THE course of a study of hydrocortisone metabolism in anxious human subjects (1), it was decided to measure their adrenocortical reserve (2). Several indirect methods have been employed for this purpose in the past, but recently a more direct method has been introduced, based on the determination of the increase in the plasma hydrocortisone level following the administration of corticotropin (3–6). Incidental to the major purpose of measuring the adrenocortical reserve of anxious subjects, we also wished to produce a graded series of responses to corticotropin in each subject. Prior to assessing the anxious subjects' adrenocortical capacity, we systematically explored the response of a group of healthy students to the administration of corticotropin. This involved measuring the plasma hydrocortisone level of each student before and during the administration of different doses of corticotropin given in varying order and with varying time intervals. A gratifying outcome of this study was the provision of a basis for relatively precise assay of corticotropin in human subjects.