DOSE-RESPONSE BETWEEN EXOGENOUS CORTISONE ACETATE AND THE URINARY EXCRETION OF TRYPSIN INHIBITOR IN MAN

Abstract

ABSTRACT The effect of different doses of exogenous cortisone acetate on the urinary excretion of trypsin inhibitor was studied in 3 women with approximately the same normal spontaneous 24-hour cortisol production. No correlation could be found between the dose of cortisone and the crude trypsin inhibitor excretion produced. However, when the 24-hour trypsin inhibitor excretion on the day of hormone administration was measured with the subject's normal spontaneous 24-hour excretion level of the inhibitor as unit, a high degree of positive correlation (direct proportionality) was found. These results can be explained by the previously proposed theory, that the urinary trypsin inhibitor excretion is determined by the equation: Excretion of trypsin inhibitor = Amount of glucocorticoid affecting the organism × Sensitivity to glucocorticoid, where sensitivity to glucocorticoid is the excretion of trypsin inhibitor produced by 1 mg of the glucocorticoid.