ON THE ACTIVITY OF THE ADRENAL CORTEX IN TOXAEMIA OF LATE PREGNANCY, ON THE BASIS OF ACTH TESTS

It has been said that the 40 weeks of pregnancy are a period of intensified activity of the hypophysis and the adrenal cortex (Caton et al., 1951). Increased or disturbed corticoid secretion has also been considered of significance in toxaemia of late pregnancy (Selye, 1946, Parviainen et al., 1949, 1950, 1951, Garrett, 1950, Garm, 1950, Ordman, 1950, Masson et al., 1951, Mastboom, 1952, a. o.). A possibility of studying the reserve power of the adrenal cortex is afforded by the ACTH test (Thorn et al., 1948) and partly also by the adrenaline test (e. g. Bliss et al., 1951). So far such tests have been carried out in only a few cases during pregnancy and in toxaemia of late pregnancy (Dworetsky et al., 1950, Ferguson, 1951, Caton et al., 1951). The results have been divergent. Hence it was decided to study the response of eosinophils to the ACTH and adrenaline