[Role of the anterior pituitary gland in the regulation of 18-hydroxydesoxycorticosterone by the adrenal cortex].

The work is devoted to a study of the hypophysis control of the adrenal cortex hormone--18-hydroxy-11-deoxycorticosterone (18-HO-DOC) secretion; these investigations were performed on 136 mongrel female rats, weighing 130-140 g. The regulating role of the hypophysis on the 18-HO-DOC secretion was ascertained on the hypophysectomized animals (pseudohypophysectomized animals served as control) and intact rats to which ACTH was administered (physiological saline was injected to control animals). The rate of secretion, specific rate of secretion, and the secretion content in the blood and in the arenal efferent and the peripheral vessels were determined by thin-layer chromatography and competitive protein binding. The data obtained led to the conclusion that both corticosterone and 18-HO-DOC were regulated by the hypophysis. Under the effect of stress there apparently occurred selective regulating action of ACTH on 18-HO-DOC and corticosterone secretion indicating that the expediency of elevation of one or another steroid secretion was determined by the character of stress reaction, the blood adrenocorticotropin and corticosteroid level.