Capillary Resistance and the Corticoids

¹ From the Departments of Pediatrics and of Biological Chemistry and Nutrition, The Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska

In an attempt to elucidate further the relationship of capillary resistance to the adrenal corticosteroids, capillary resistance was studied in connection with the plasma concentration and excretion of the 17, 21-dihydroxycorticosteroids in three groups of experiments. The actual concentration of these steroids in the plasma of nonstressed subjects failed to show any correlation with the actual capillary resistance level. The stress-induced increase in capillary resistance (capillary stress response) was accompanied by simultaneous changes in the plasma concentration or excretion of these corticosteroids in some experiments. In other experiments, on the other hand, plasma concentration and elimination of the corticosteroids did not change despite marked capillary response. This failure to demonstrate a consistent correlation between capillary resistance and plasma concentration and urinary excretion of the 17, 21-dihydroxycorticosteroids militates against a direct relationship of capillary resistance to adrenocortical activity and suggests the existence of another factor as playing a role in the capillary resistance-corticosteroid relationship.