OBSERVATIONS ON THE PHYSIOLOGIC EFFECTS OF CORTISONE AND ACTH IN MAN

Abstract

UNTIL recently inadequate supplies of the adrenal cortex hormone 17-hydroxy-11-dehydrocorticosterone1(formerly known as "compound E" and hereinafter called "cortisone") and pituitary adrenocorticotropic hormone (hereinafter called "ACTH") have limited studies of the effects of these substances in man when administered in amounts sufficient to have pronounced physiologic activity. With the development and improvement of methods for partial synthesis of cortisone and for the separation of larger amounts of ACTH from the pituitary glands of animals, adequate amounts of both materials became available for trial in certain diseases of human beings. A great impetus was given to their production by recent observations concerning their favorable influence on the course of a common chronic disease (rheumatoid arthritis) as well as in a common acute disease with serious chronic sequelae (acute rheumatic fever).2In the short time since these observations were made, increasing amounts of these hormones have become available and, although