Hyperadrenocorticism with arsenic; a physiological basis of therapy with arsenite solution.

Abstract

1. Administration of arsenic (mapharsemine) to rats gives rise to a high plasm level of corticosterone and increases the content of corticoids of the same fraction in adrenal glands, while in rats intoxicated with phosphorus or with lead, the level of corticosterone in plasma and the content of corticoids in the same fraction of adrenal glands are decreased.In every case of intoxication i. e. with arsenic, phosphorus and lead, corticoids of the so-called Fk-fraction greatly increase in plasma as well as in adrenal glands, meanings which are not yet clear.2. When arsenite solution is administered to normal subjects and to patients after the prescription, the levels of hydrocortisone and corticoids of Bk-fraction rise in plasma and the urinary excretion of 17-OH-corticosteroids increases gradually with the time of medication. One of the physiological bases of therapy with arsenic must be in stimulation of the adrenocortico-pituitary function.