Abstract
In order to examine the dexamethasone suppressibility of plasma pregnenolone, 9 a.m. and overnight suppression tests were performed in normal adult subjects and plasma pregnenolone levels were radioimmunoassayed. The results were as follows: 1) In the 9 a.m. test, plasma pregnenolone was suppressed to the lowest level at the time between 30min and 2 hr after dexamethasone; 2) there was no significant difference in dexamethasone suppressibility of plasma pregnenolone between the 9 a.m. test and overnight test; 3) there was no significant difference from each other among the plasma pregnenolone levels after dexamethasone administration (0.5mg to 3mg) in both tests; 4) after dexamethasone administration, plasma pregnenolone was not suppressed below 40% of the basal level in both tests; 5) discussions were made about the results, comparing with those of the suppressibility of cortisol which were previously reported from this laboratory.
