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Assessment of the Functional Reserve Capacity of the Adrenal Cortex in Healthy Subjects Following Exhaustive Exercise

The Hormone Laboratory of the Department of Women's Diseases, Karolinska sjukhuset and the Army Hospital of the First Infantry Regiment Stockholm, Sweden

The functional reserve capacity of the adrenal cortex was studied in 22 healthy volunteers aged 19 to 23 after a period of normal exercise and after a period of exhaustive exercise. Urinary 17-hydroxycorticosteroids (17-OH-CS), 17-ketosteroids (17-KS) and pregnanediol (P-diol) before, during and after intravenous infusion of 25 I.U. of corticotropin were used as indices of adrenocortical function. Administration of 60 mg of phenopromin (d,l--phenyl-β-amino-propane sulphate) 12 hours prior to the ACTH infusion exerted no effect on steroid excretion nor on the urinary steroid response to ACTH. Exhaustive exercise resulted in an increased excretion of 17-OH-CS and in a diminished excretion of 17-KS; it did not influence quantitatively the urinary 17-OH-CS response to intravenous ACTH-stimulation but shortened its duration. Exhaustive exercise significantly reduced the 17-KS response and prolonged the P-diol response to a subsequent infusion of ACTH. Thus in healthy subjects prolonged physical exercise to the point of exhaustion does not interfere with the functional reserve capacity of the adrenal cortex, but it significantly modifies the urinary steroid response to a subsequent infusion of ACTH.

Received June 5, 1961.