Physiological Effects of Cortisone and Pituitary Adrenocorticotropic Hormone (Acth) in Man

Clinical and metabolic studies by us and others before and particularly since the initial observations of Hench, Kendall, Slocumb and Polley¹have provided evidence that cortisone and pituitary adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) are powerful hormonal substances. It is probable that most, if not all, tissues of the body come within the scope of their activity. When administered to man they are capable of inducing a number of physiologic and pharmacologic alterations in addition to those involved in their favorable effects on a variety of disease states. In some circumstances there may be no distinct line of demarcation between favorable therapeutic effects and other physiological effects, some of them undesirable. In most of the clinical conditions which have been favorably influenced by administration of these hormones there is no clear evidence of hormonal deficiency. (Exceptions are conditions of frank adrenal cortical insufficiency, such as occur primarily in Addison's disease and secondarily