METABOLIC ACTIONS AND FATE OF INTRAVENOUSLY ADMINISTERED ADRENOCORTICOTROPIC* HORMONE IN MAN†§

Abstract

THE metabolic alterations following the administration of pituitary adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) by the intramuscular or subcutaneous route have been reported by a number of investigators (1, 2, 3). The present study concerns the metabolic actions and fate of single large doses of ACTH injected intravenously. Special attention has been paid to the temporal relationship between the dynamic changes which occurred in certain constituents of the body fluids and the titer of tropic hormone in the plasma. Renal excretion of the administered hormone has also been studied. The 2 subjects of these experiments were healthy male medical students; M.L. was 26 years old and weighed 84 Kg., and M.J. was 29 years old and weighed 89 Kg. They were on a controlled diet and lived in the metabolic ward of the Department of Medicine for a number of days before and during the hormone studies. Subject M.L. consumed 3100 calories per day which included 360 Gm. of carbohydrate. Subject M.J. received 2450 calories per day which included 260 Gm. of carbohydrate. Breakfast was withheld from both subjects on the morning of the experiments, but a meal was given six hours following the beginning of hormone administration. For M.L. this meal contained 100 Gm. of carbohydrate; for M.J., 80 Gm. of carbohydrate. Both subjects were again fed during the tenth hour. This meal contained 150 Gm. of carbohydrate for M.L. and 110 Gm. for M.J. In order to insure adequate urine volumes, the subjects ingested ample amounts of fluid starting two hours before and continuing until six hours after ACTH administration. Inclusive of the volume infused during this period, M.L. had a total fluid intake of 1800 ml.; M.J., 1200 ml.