Daily urinary excretion of total (free and conjugated) acetaldehydogenic corticoids (ACS) was measured by modified Cox's method in patients with various diseases as well as normal subjects, and the following results were obtained.
1. The mean urinary excretion of ACS for normal men, with 95% confidence limit, was 3.0 ±0.5mg /day, and the mean for normal women was 2.0 ±0.5mg/day.
2. Most of the diseases investigated were observed to affect the urinary excretion of ACS, 17-hydroxycorticosteroids (17-OH·CS) and formaldehydogenic corticosteroids in the same way, that is, the excretion of all the three groups of substances seemed to increase or decrease together according as the disease involved produced enhancement or suppression of the function of the pituitary-adrenal system. It was observed, however, that the ACS-forming activity of the adrenal gland did not always keep steps with its adrenocortical-hormone-forming activity, either of the two being sometimes very vigorous while the other remained low. Marked decrease of the ACS excretion was observed in one case each of liver cirrhosis, tetany, pituitary anorexia and Simond's disease as well as two cases of Addison's disease. On the other hand, striking increase was observed in a number of patients with high fever, another who had received transplantation of a bovine pituitary gland and two others who had been surgically operated. This is worthy of notice, as it is contrary to the generally accepted view that such elevated ACS excretion is characteristic of patients with certain adrenocortical tumours. In patients with Cushing's syndrome or Basedow's disease, it was observed that the urinary 17-OH-CS excretion increased while the ACS excretion remained normal or decreased. This may be explained by adopting the view that Cushing's syndrome accompanies elevated production of adrenocortical hormones alone and Basedow's disease belongs to the kind of disorder in which the reduction of hydrocortisone alone is accelerated.
3. All the subjects except those with extremely disordered adrenal gland function, e.g., advanced Addison's disease, responded to administration of ACTH with increased ACS excretion. This suggests that ACS production is promoted by ACTH.
4. Administration of adrenocortical hormones brought about hardly any increase of ACS excretion either in the normal subjects or the patients, but even some decrease in a few cases.
5. Administration of Fowler's solution, adrenochrome-monosemicarbazon or pyrogen had almost no effect on the ACS excretion.
From these results it may be reasonably concluded that the ACS appearing in the urine is directly derived from some substances produced in the adrenal gland such as 17,20-dihydroxy-20-methylsteroids and that the process of formation is promoted by ACTH, probably prior to their conversion to progesterone.
Under conditions accompanying increased progesterone production, such as pregnancy, augmentation of the ACS excretion was observed. Can 17-hydroxylation take place in the placenta, ovaries etc. ? Nobody has produced conclusive evidence to decide this issuer either way. If 17-hydroxylation of progesterone takes place only in the adrenal gland, the amount of ACS excreted will indirectly indicate the level of the adrenocortical activity.

View full abstract

In order to clarify the effect of metals on the production of adrenocortical hormones, the author estimated the fluorogenic corticoids in the plasma and adrenal glands of rats intoxicated with Ag, Au, Bi, Ca, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mg, Mn, Pt, Sb, and Zn. Mature healty rats were injected subcutaneously with a single dose of the metallic salt in solution, corresponding to LD₅₀ of each metal.
The animals were then examined for the amount of fluorogenic corticoids in their plasma and adrenal glands. The determination of fluorogenic corticoids in the plasma and the adrenal glands was carried out by means of modified Sweat's method, and the following results were obtained:
Administration of gold to rats gave rise to a high plasma level of corticosterone and increased the corticoid content of the adrenal glands, while in rats intoxicated with copper, the level of corticosterone in the plasma and the corticoid content of the adrenal glands exhibited sometimes increase and sometimes decrease. With the exception of gold and copper, all the metals studied caused lowering of the corticoid content of the plasma as well as the adrenal glands.

View full abstract

Very little has been known with regard to physiological significances of the mucoproteins, and it has not yet been well established as to the relationship between blood and urinary mucoproteins. However, some authors reported that the mucoproteins and its related substances in blood were observed increase in cases of the stressed conditions, and these evidences suggest the adrenocortical function may have influence on the excretion of the mucoproteins in urine. In this paper, it was undertaken to clarify the problems on the urinary mucoproteins and the adrenocortical function, and significant correlation were obtained between mucoproteins and total 17-hydroxycorticoids excreted in urine.
Albeaux-Fernet's method was improved and employed to evaluate the urinary mucoproteins (MP), and total 17-hydroxycorticoids (17-OHCS) in urine was determined by the method of Smith et al.
Following results were obtained :
1) Concentrations of MP and 17-OHCS in urines were well correlated in 150 urinary specimens of 25 male healthy adults and in 30 specimens of 5 patients suffering from minimal pulmonary tuberculosis. Their coefficients of correlation were 0.535 and 0.773 respectively, and statistically significant (p<0.001). Total 24-hour excretions of urinary MP and 17-OHCS were also found in good correlation in 125 specimens of 25 male healthy adults (r =0.495, p<0.001).
Moreover, the diurnal rhythms of urinary MP and 17-OHCS have shown similar good correlations in 7 healthy and 14 pulmonary tuberculous subjects.
2) In contrast to the results obtained previously, the correlations between the concentrations of MP and 17-OHCS were not significant statistically in 8 cases of far advanced patient of pulmonary tuberculosis (47 specimens) and 12 aged subjects (54 specimens). Their coefficients of correlation were 0.283 and 0.07 in each.
As evidenced by diurnal rhythms, no excretory parallerism between MP and 17-OHCS in urine was found in the aged group, while in far advanced tuberculous patients, however, there were exhibited in good correlations in spite of the relatively high values observed in urinary MP.
3) Urinary MP was increased by the administrations of ACTH Gel to 14 healthy male adults, while oral administrations of hydrocortisone (100mg) to 2 healthy male subjects did not induce the significant increments of MP in urine.
4) Urinary MP did not correlated with 17-KS significantly in both concentrations and total 24-hour excretions obtained from 24 male healthy adults (123 specimens), and their coefficients of correlation were 0.179 and 0.165 respectively.
5) Using bicycle ergometer, 6 healthy male subjects were observed the effects induced by muscular exertion. In four of them, it was obtained the results that the adrenocortical activation was evidenced by increased outputs of 17-OHCS, 17-KS in urine and eosinopenia in blood, and enhanced excretion of MP in urine were concomitant occurence in these cases, however, the remaining 2 exhibited neither adrenocortical activation nor increased excretion of MP in urine.
6) These evidences are enough to suggest the important roles of adrenocortical function on the excretions of urinary MP, and some of the factors concerning the excretions of MP in urine are also discussed.

View full abstract

In the previous study, I found that plasma antidiuretic activity (ADA) of the normal subjects was quite slight in the early morning, while significantly increased in the midday and tended to decrease in the evening. For assay of ADA of the plasma, there was no limitation of life except drawing the blood before each meal, and the blood was obtained mostly from the males.
This paper reports plasma ADA of the normal subjects in the rest experiment and during the menstrual cycle.
In the rest experiment, three men were laid down for a week and the diet and fluid intake were constant except supplementing 800 Cal. by carbohydrate and fat during the control period. Their blood specimens were assayed in the early morning and in the midday during the preceding control period and during the rest period respectively.
Plasma ADA during the control period was increased in the midday in all cases, but that during the rest period was not increased in most of cases.
The daily outputs of urine excreted by them were increased and their body weights were decreased in the rest period.
Six women with normal menstrual cycle were selected for assay of ADA of the plasma. Their Blood specimens were assayed in the early morning at one week, rarely two weeks intervals in the same individual.
The results obtained here revealed that plasma ADA was increased during the premenstrual period and decreased during the postmenstrual period.
The mean of plasma sodium concentration and that of sum of plasma sodium, potassium and calcium concentration were significantly (0.05<P<0.02) higher during the premenstrual than during the intermenstrual period.

View full abstract

67 determinations of plasma antidiuretic activity in 57 patients with a variety of clinical disorders were performed in the early morning. The results obtained were as follows.
1. Plasma antidiuretic activity was increased in patients with fluid retention.
2. Plasma antidiuretic activity was also increased in 3 diabetics with blood sugar level over 300mg/dl.
3. The significant correlations were found between plasma antidiuretic activity and either volume or specific gravity of 24 hours urines collected on the day the plasma antidiuretic activity was determined.
4. No relationships of plasma antidiuretic activity to plasma sodium, potassium, calcium and sodium plus potassium plus calcium concentrations, were found. However, plasma sodium, and sodium plus potassium plus calcium concentrations of patients with fluid retention revealed to be a little lower.
5. The significant correlations between plasma antidiuretic activity and both serum protein content of edematous patients and serum colloid osmotic pressure, calculated from Iversen's formula, were found respectively.
As the result of this study, it is suggested that the secretion of antidiuretic hormone in patients with fluid retention is regulated by volume-receptors sensitive to the distribution as well as the magnitude of the effective circulating blood volume.

View full abstract