d-Aldosterone and sweat electrolytes

Men worked (BMR 190 kcal/m2 hr) in the heat (45–50 C D.B.; 26 C W.B.) for periods of 5–7 hr, maintaining water and salt balance by drinking appropriate saline solutions. d-Aldosterone was administered by continuous intravenous infusion at 1.5 µg/kg hr during the third to seventh hours without altering the Na or Cl concentration of the men's sweat from control values determined during the first 2 hr of the exposures, or from the values observed during separate control experiments. Na and Cl concentrations of sweat secreted the day following the infusion experiments were not significantly different from those of samples collected the day after control experiments. The sodium-conserving responses of the men's sweat glands 7–24 hr following salt depletion (-140 to -230 mEq) were not significantly altered by infusion of 2.0–4.5 µg/kg hr of d-aldosterone. Continuous infusion of d-aldosterone at 1.8 µg/kg hr into one brachial artery did not alter the Na or Cl concentration of sweat being secreted by the infused arm, either from simultaneously collected samples from the man's other arm or from control values in both arms before the infusion was started. In all cases, pronounced reductions in urinary Na:K ratios were observed during and after d-aldosterone administration.

Submitted on October 28, 1963

IDENTIFICATION AND SIGNIFICANCE OF PAROTID FLUID CORTICOSTEROIDS

Parotid fluid, which can be collected in continuous fashion, was previously shown to possess free 17-hydroxycorticosteroid (17-OH-CS) levels which paralleled those in serum and reached a maximum two hours after corticotrophin or cortisol administration to normal men. The present study demonstrates that intravenously administered cortisol rapidly appears in parotid fluid, and that, thus, parotid fluid 17-OH-CS levels would serve as reliable indicators of plasma corticosteroid levels. This was borne out by ACTH stimulation studies in patients with Cushing's Syndrome as well as adrenal hyporesponsiveness. In the third trimester of pregnancy, despite the large rise in plasma 17-OH-CS, there was only a small, though significant, increase in parotid fluid 17-OH-CS.

Conjugated 17-OH-CS were not found in appreciable quantity in parotid fluid. Chemical and radioisotopic techniques indicated cortisol and cortisone to be the major human parotid fluid 17-OH-CS. Parotid tissue from the dog converted cortisol to cortisone. Radioactive aldosterone, oestrogen and androgen also appeared in parotid fluid after intravenous injection.

A COMPARISON OF THE METABOLIC EFFECTS OF HUMAN AND PORCINE CORTICOTROPIN IN A NORMAL HUMAN

The effects of human and porcine ACTH on a human male have been compared in equivalent steroidogenic (in vitro) doses. Sodium and chloride retention were of the same order; potassium and nitrogen balances were of greater negativity during the administration of porcine ACTH. The increment of increase for the urinary 17-hydroxycorticosteroids was greater for the pig preparation but those of the urinary 17-ketosteroids and aldosterone were comparable. A transient ascorbic acid diuresis was observed with both agents and glycosuria was more marked during the use of human ACTH.

Effect of aldosterone and cortisol on sodium and water content of the rat kidney

The present studies were undertaken to determine the effect of aldosterone and cortisol on the sodium content of the kidney. Rats were injected intraperitoneally with 50 µg of d-aldosterone or 100 µg of d, l-aldosterone, or with 2 mg of cortisol. Three to four hours later the kidneys were removed and analyses of sodium and water in the papilla, medulla, and cortex were performed. Aldosterone in both normal and adrenalectomized animals and cortisol in adrenalectomized animals increased the sodium concentration in the wet tissue, tissue water, and tissue solids in all areas of the kidney. Papillary sodium and cortical water were reduced in the adrenalectomized animals. Cortisol, in addition to its effects on sodium, restored cortical water to levels observed in normal control animals, while aldosterone had no influence on water in any area of the kidney. The magnitude of increase of sodium in the tissue solids of the cortex was greater with aldosterone than with cortisol.

AN OESTROGENIC EFFECT AS A COMPONENT OF THE STRESS SYNDROME

In a routine study of vaginal smears of postmenopausal women we had previously established the connection between a somatic or psychological stress on the one hand, and an increase in the number of superficial cells in the vaginal smears on the other.

This phenomenon was further analyzed by a study of the vaginal smears of rats of the Wistar strain. Artificial stress was induced by swimming tests. Only a total stress proved adequate for our experiments.

Stress produced an increase in the number of cornified cells in the vaginal smears of oophorectomized rats. This phenomenon failed to appear when the animals were subsequently adrenalectomized. In most instances hypophysectomy did not prevent this increase of cornified cells after stress. Bilateral removal of the adrenal medulla in oophorectomized animals reduced the number of animals which reacted positively to the stress. The effect was totally abolished when the animals were pretreated with phentolamine (Regitine) which completely blocks the sympathetic tissue. In spayed rats ACTH induced the appearance of cornified cells, but not after adrenalectomy or hypophysectomy. Adrenaline administration only rarely evoked a response. The vaginal smears were not influenced by the administration of testosterone, progesterone, cortisol, aldosterone or spirolactone. Oestrogens in a physiological dose brought about a prompt response.

The results indicate that stress induces a release of oestrogens or oestrogenic substances from the adrenal cortex. The most important pathway seems to follow the sympathetic nervous system. As a hypothesis the pathway is suggested to proceed from the hypothalamus via the sympathetic tissue to the adrenal.