Nycthemeral rhythm in adrenal responsiveness to ACTH.

Adrenal adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) and corticosterone responses to exogenous ACTH were found to be about 2.5 times greater in the evening (at lights off) than in the morning (at lights on) in rats. The rhythm in adrenal responsiveness to ACTH was found to persist in rats treated with dexamethasone 15 and 3 h before exogenous ACTH (in the presumed absence of a rhythm in endogenous ACTH). Treatment with p-chlorophenylalanine did not affect the daily rise in circulating ACTH levels but did abolish the rhythm in adrenal responsiveness to ACTH. The magnitude of the rhythm in adrenal responsiveness to ACTH is greater than the magnitude of the rhythm in ACTH. Because the rhythms are dissociable, we conclude that in vivo measurements of adrenal corticosteroid levels do not necessarily reflect ACTH levels.