PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

A T Fazekas

Publications and source records attributed to A T Fazekas.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

A test for heterozygocity of 21-hydroxylase deficiency: preliminary report.

The urinary excretion of steroids was studied in 8 parents of children with congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency of the simple virilizing and of the salt-losing type. Eight parents of normal children served as controls. 24-hour urines before and after the injection of 40 IU of ACTH were fractionated using gas liquid chromatography on glass capillary columns. Before stimulation no excretion of pregnanetriolone was detected in heterozygous and in normal parents. Following ACTH only heterozygotes showed an excretion of pregnanetriolone in the urine. This averaged 289 mug per 24 h. Employing gas liquid chromatography on glass capillary columns heterozygous carriers of congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency may reliably be detected by their increased urinary excretion of pregnanetriolone following ACTH.

Adrenocortical Hyperfunction

Thyroid function in term newborn infants with congenital goiter.

Eighty-four term newborn infants without goiter and 45 newborn infants with congenital goiter were studied with regard to thyroid function. The radiologic development of the femoral and tibial epiphyses was evaluated in those with goiter. Fifty-eight percent of the patients had retarded bone age, markedly elevated TSH levels, elevated TBI, decreased total T4I, and decreased PBI values. Forty-two percent of newborn infants with congenital goiter had a normal bone age, normal values for TSH, PBI, and total T4I, and elevated values for TBI. It is concluded that the 58% of the newborn infants with congenital goiter had subtle hypothyroidism. They require substitution therapy with thyroid hormones in order to avoid possible retardation of normal brain development. Patients with congenital goiter who have no biochemical evidence of hypothyroidism should also be treated with thyroid hormones to achieve rapid regression of goiter.

Bone Development

The concentrations of total cortisol and corticosterone in mixed cord plasma.

Cortisol and corticosterone were determined in mixed umbillical cord plasma of 43 healthy full-term newborns. The method consisted of a combined thin-layer chromatographic-fluorimetric procedure which proved to be specific and reliable. The mean concentration in cord plasma of cortisol was 10.6 plus or minus 4.9 mug/100 ml, of corticosterone 1.8 plus or minus 0.8 mug/100 ml. The mean ratio cortisol/corticosterone F/B was 6.3 plus or minus 2.5. Neither the duration nor the time of day of delivery appeared to influence the concentration of cortisol or corticosterone in umbilical cord plasma. Also, there was no significant difference between male and female infants. In 18 instances of a pathological course of gestation and/or delivery the mean cortisol level was 9.1 plus or minus /.7 mug/ml, the mean corticosterone level 2.2 plus or minus 9 mug/100ml. The mean F/B ratio was slightly but not significantly decreased (4.2 plus or minus 1.4 mug/100 mo; p larger than 0.05). It is speculated that the high corticosterone concentration in umbilical cord plasma reflects a defect in cortisol biosynthesis (17 chi-hydroxylase deficiency) in the newborn, compared with later life.

Circadian Rhythm

Genetic differences in the cortisol concentration of the adrenal and other tissues of white and coloured guinea-pigs.

The effect of genetic difference (white v. coloured) on the cortisol content of ten different organs and tissues, including the adrenals, of white and coloured guinea-pigs of both sexes and of different ages was studied by protein-binding techniques. Tissue cortisol concentration was significantly higher in all the tissues and adrenals of white animals of both sexes compared with coloured animals. The difference in tissue cortisol content between white and coloured animals was higher before (range 41-5-134-1%) than after puberty (range 10-1--82-5%). The age-dependent decrease of cortisol concentration in different tissues and adrenals in adults was more marked in white guinea-pigs of both sexes (mean 30-6%, range 0-0--71-5%) than in coloured (mean 16-9%, range 0-0--63-1%. In adult animals the liver contained significantly (11-8--36-4%) more cortisol than in prepubertal animals. This pattern was the same in white and coloured guinea-pigs of both sexes.

Adrenal Glands

[Studies on the glucocorticoid control of zinc metabolism].

In the present paper a possible connection between ACTH stress, cortisol release and serum zinc level is studied. It could be shown that under ACTH stress the reaction of cortisol release is physiological, whereas the zinc level in serum decreases significantly. These reactions recur under insulin stress in a weaker form. On the basis of these results a possible connection between stress situations and hypozincemia was discussed. At the same time a possible misinterpretation with regard to a general zinc deficiency under the condition of a reduced serum zinc level in stress situations is pointed out. In accordance with other authors it can, however, be said that the zinc metabolism probably depends on glucocorticoidal controls.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone