THE EFFECT OF ACTH AND CORTISONE ON THE BLOOD PYRUVIC ACID LEVEL

Abstract

In the course of previous investigations it was found that the blood pyruvic acid (PA) level was elevated in almost every case associated with severe and acute stress, irrespective of the cause or underlying disease. These conditions included pulmonary edema, myocardial infarction, peripheral embolism, hypertensive encephalopathy, cerebral hemorrhage, pneumonia, severe biliary colic, gastric hemorrhage, and also emotional stress (Kleeberg & Gitelson, 1952, 1953; Gitelson & Tiberin, 1952). Hyperpyruvicemia was found by previous authors to occur in shock and in a number of other severe unrelated disorders (Lu Sc Plait, 1939; Elliot et al, 1941; Williams et al., 1942; Yanof, 1942; Neufeld et al., 1943; Allison et al., 1943; Russel et al., 1944; Beatty, 1945; Friedemann et al., 1945; Altschule & Rosenfeld, 1947; Wilhelmi & Long, 1948; Kaeser & Markees, 1949; Markees et al., 1949, 1950; Amatuzio Sc Nesbitt, 1950, and others). This increase in PA was explained by anoxia, liver