[H3-labeled cortisol metabolism in the renal, splenic and thymic cells of intact and adrenalectomized rats].

A study was made of the metabolism of 3H-cortisol in the kidney, spleen and thymus cytosol and microsomes of intact and adrenalectomized rats. Cortisone and tetrahydrocortisone were found to be the main cortisol metabolites in the kidney cytosol and microsomes in these two groups of animals. In intact rats, the tetrahydrocortisone level in the kidney cytosol was hizher than that in the microsome fraction. After adrenalectomy opposite changes were noted: the tetrahydrocortisone level was increased in the microsome fraction and significantly lowered in the cytosol which might be accounted for by a decreased rate of cortisol metabolism and a raised retention of tetrahydrocortisone by the endoplasmic reticulum membranes. Cortisone and tetrahydrocortisone turned out to be the main metabolites of cortisol the rat spleen and thymus cytosol but their content was much lower than that in the kidneys.