Conjugated 17-hydroxycorticosteroids in plasma: Measurement and significance in relation to surgical trauma

Measurement of the concentration of 17-hydroxycorticosteroid (17-OH-CS) glucuronide conjugates in plasma has been suggested as a means of estimating changes in the rate of free steroid metabolism. In the present study a modification of the Nelson-Samuels technique was utilized for the measurement of 17-OH-CS concentration in serum after glucuronidase hydrotysis. This technique proved to be reliable; the results coincided with those obtained by previously reported procedures. The response of the serum free and conjugated 17-OH-CS in normal subjects to maximal adrenal stimulation with corticotropin was compared to the response in patients within seventy-two hours after subtotal gastrectomy. The rise in the serum level of free 17-OH-CS was more rapid following gastrectomy in the surgical patients than following adrenal stimulation in the normal subjects; however, the rise in the serum level of conjugated 17-OH-CS was more gradual in the surgical patients. © 1961 by The Endocrine Society