Comparison of glucocorticoid activity of some synthetic adrenocorticoids by a new method based upon intravenous glucose tolerance curve in rat.

Previously the author carrid out the intravenous glucose tolerance test with rats, and reported that the glucose tolerance curve for the adrenalectomized animal returned to the pre-operative level on the administration of hydrocortisone acetate (Tobe, 1957). Recently new compounds representing modifications of cortisone and hydrocortisone have appeared. Fried and Sabo(1953, 1954)showed that halogenation at the 9 alpha position of hydrocortisone markedly enhances the glucocorticoid activity, while other workers found that it causes relatively greater increase in mineralocorticoid potency(Borman et al., 1954; Liddle et al., 1954; Swingle et al., 1955). Dehydrogenation of hydrocortisone at positions C-1 and C-2 definitely exaggerates the glucocorticoid function, but the sodium retaining activity appears to be considerably diminished(Perlman and Tolksdorf, 1955; Herzog et al., 1955; Swingle et al., 1956). When, however, two such differing modifications of hydrocortisone are both present in the same molecule, the biological activity of the steroid is greatly altered with respect to both gluco-and mineralocorticoid activity(Stafford et al., 1955; Hirschmann et al., 1955; Swingle et al., 1956). In the present experiments the effects of these modified corticoids and the parent ones upon intravenous glucose tolerance curve in adrenalectomized rats were compared.