Gluco-Corticoid Activity of Deoxycortone Acetate

Abstract

EARLY investigations by Ingle¹, Long and collaborators², and Reinecke and Kendall³, showed that deoxycortone acetate lacked glycogenic activity. Olson et al.⁴ concluded that “neither those steroids which are not ketonic at C₅ and α,β-unsaturated in ring A nor those which are without an oxygen substituent at C₁₁ have any influence upon carbohydrate and protein metabolism”. These findings did not, however, pass unchallenged. Verzár claimed that the difference between deoxycortone acetate and the recognized gluco-corticoids with respect to carbohydrate metabolism was one of velocity, deoxycortone being much slower than the 11-C oxygenated steroids^5–7. These workers showed that deoxycortone acetate in doses of 2–3 mgm. daily was capable of restoring glycogen production to normal in adrenalectomized rats which were kept alive seven to fourteen days after the operation. However, in short-term experiments in which the animals were sacrificed six hours following the injection of 2.0 mgm. deoxycortone acetate, no evidence of glycogenic activity was obtained.