Isolation and identification of adrenocortical steroids in human peripheral blood: II. Isolation of the Naturally Occurring Acetates of Cortisol and Corticosterone and the Quantitative Distribution of Cortisol Acetate, Cortisol and Corticosterone in Normal Human Blood

Abstract

Cortisol acetate and corticosterone acetate were isolated from large quantities of normal human peripheral blood and identified by infrared spectroscopy. It has been demonstrated that 50% or more of the “Porter-Silber chromogens” present in circulating whole blood are cortisol acetate. Heparinized whole blood, when collected in glass containers and allowed to stand for 30 minutes at room temperature, contains only 15–30% of the cortisol acetate present in whole blood shed directly into a protein precipitating solvent mixture. Results are presented which indicate that free cortisol is present only in plasma, while cortisol acetate and 17-deoxycorticosteroids are distributed between red cells and plasma.