Diurnal and ultradian variations of plasma concentrations of eleven adrenal steroid hormones in human males.

The diurnal variations of the plasma concentrations of eleven steroid hormones and of corticotropin (ACTH) were studied in ten young healthy males. The plasma steroids progesterone, pregnenolone, deoxycorticosterone, 17-OH-progesterone, 17-OH-pregnenolone, deoxycortisol, 18-OH-deoxycorticosterone, corticosterone, aldosterone, cortisol and 18-OH-corticosterone, as well as plasma ACTH, were measured at 30-min intervals in the morning and in the evening and at 2-h intervals during the rest of the day. Steroids were extracted from 1 ml plasma, fractionated by high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) and finally quantified by radioimmunoassay (RIA). Plasma concentrations of ACTH were radioimmunoassayed after extraction from 2 ml plasma. More or less pronounced circadian and episodic variations were apparent for plasma levels of all steroids studied, as well as of ACTH. According to related profiles of diurnal variations of plasma concentrations, three different categories of steroids were tentatively crystallized. Category 1 includes 17-OH-pregnenolone, deoxycortisol, corticosterone, 18-OH-deoxycorticosterone, deoxycorticosterone, cortisol and 18-OH-corticosterone, exhibiting a rhythm partly synchronous with that of the pituitary secretory activity of ACTH. Category 2, including progesterone, pregnenolone and 17-OH-progesterone, exhibited a time course of plasma concentrations assuming a regulation predominantly dictated by the testicular secretory activity. Lastly, aldosterone exerted a variation of plasma concentrations which was obviously regulated by the renin-angiotensin system under the present conditions.