Relationship of bioassayable and immunoassayable plasma ACTH and cortisol concentrations in normal subjects and in patients with Cushing's disease.

Plasma ACTH and cortisol concentrations were determined at 5-min intervals over a 3- or 4-h sampling period in 2 normal subjects. Time spans studied were 10:00 AM-1:00 PM, 4:00 PM-8:00 PM, 8:00 PM-11:00 PM, and 4:00 AM-8:00 AM. Similar sampling for 3 h, (onset 9:00-9:30 AM) was performed on 4 patients with Cushing's disease, 3 untreated and 1 in remission following pituitary irradiation. Two of these patients were studied on 2 separate occasions. Plasma ACTH was determined by both immunoassay (I) and bioassay (B). Although in general, these studies demonstrated significant correlation between I-ACTH or B-ACTH concentrations and those of plasma cortisol, a striking finding in both subject categories was the presence of 30- to 50-min episodes during which marked rises in both I- and B-ACTH concentrations occurred without concomittant, or markedly diminished, increments in plasma cortisol concentrations. This could not be explained by biological inactivity of the ACTH, since a highly significant correlation was present between I- and B-ACTH concentrations at all times; r values ranged between 0.86 and 0.98 for normal subjects, and 0.76 and 0.96 for patients with Cushing's disease. The lack of correlation in these episodes also does not appear to be secondary to an 11-beta-hydroxylase block, differences in the rate of change of plasma ACTH concentrations, lack of adrenal "priming" by prior ACTH or incapacity of the adrenal gland to further increase secretion. I/B ACTH ratios were similar in the normal subjects (1.42-1.64) and in the patients with Cushing's disease (1.27-1.47). "Apparent" ACTH half lives calculated from "peaks" of ACTH secretion were 7-12 min for I-ACTH and 3-9 min for B-ACTH in the normal subjects; and 9-13 min and 7-9 min respectively, in the patients with Cushing's disease. Mean plasma ACTH I-and B-concentrations at comparable time periods were higher in patients with active Cushing's disease than in normal subjects. These studies also indicate that in Cushing's disease, the abnormality present resides in ACTH regulatory mechanisms, not in the nature of the ACTH secreted. Approximation of the total amount of immunoassayable ACTH secreted in one normal subject over a 24-h period yielded a value of 73 mug. Total mug/h secreted in the 2 normal subjects were highest in the hour preceding awakening (6:30-7:30 AM; 12.9 and 12.2 mug/h); were 5.3 and 4.0 mug/h between 10:00-11:00 AM, and 1.4 and 1.7 mug/h between 9:00-10:00 PM. In the 3 patients with clinically active Cushing's disease, apparent ACTH secretion between 10:00-11:00 AM varied from 19.2-34.3 mug/h, the magnitude of such secretion being positively correlated with the extent of increased adrenal cortical activity present.