Influence of cortisol on the synthesis of sulfated mucopolysaccharides and collagen in chick embryos

Abstract

1. 1. Double-labeling radioactive techniques were employed in chick embryos in vivo in order to determine whether cortisol specifically inhibits the synthesis of sulfated mucopolysaccharides or the synthesis of collagen. 2. 2. Within the limits of the techniques employed, it was not possible to find a dose level or a time at which inhibition of one parameter was observed without concomitant inhibition of the other, or without a general inhibition of protein synthesis. 3. 3. Considerably larger amounts of cortisol were required to inhibit the synthesis of sulfated mucopolysaccharides and collagen in cartilagenous tibia that from chick embryos in vitro. No explanation was available for this difference. 4. 4. The results were consistent with either the possibility that cortisol had separate but concomitant effects on protein and mucopolysaccharide synthesis, or the possibility that the inhibition of the synthesis of sulfated mucopolysaccharides was econdary to the general inhibition of protein synthesis.