THE EXCRETION OF 11-OXYCORTICOSTEROIDLIKE SUBSTANCES BY NORMAL AND ABNORMAL SUBJECTS*

Abstract

THE present paper reports approximately 300 measurements of the urinary output of 11-oxycorticosteroid-like substances (11-OCS) by a group of normal subjects and by selected patients with various conditions. The purpose of these studies has been to clarify the significance of the urinary content of these substances with particular reference to variations in adrenal cortical function in health and disease. It is the 11-oxycorticosteroids which have been found to promote sugar formation from protein (i.e., protein catabolism) and to play a role in the resistance of the organism to the stresses and strains of various traumatic experiences (1, 6). Because of their action on sugar metabolism, they are called the “S-hormones.” They are to be distinguished from other corticoadrenal hormones certain of which are androgenic and prompt protein anabolism (N hormone) and others of which act chiefly to cause retention of water, sodium and chloride and excretion of potassium (H2O and electrolyte hormone). The 11-OCS output was measured by means of a colorimetric assay procedure reported elsewhere (8). The substances measured are thought to correspond to corticoadrenal steroids which have a ketone or hydroxyl group on the 11th carbon atom and which have attached to the 17th carbon atom a 2-carbon, sugar-like or ketolic side chain and an hydroxyl group.