Abstract
Summary
A method is described utilizing zinc sulfate precipitation of plasma proteins which, when used in conjunction with standard fluorometric measurements of corticos-terone and cortisol, will eliminate residual fluorescence and demonstrate apparent differences in the relative amount of unbound and protein-bound corticoids in plasma of rats and guinea pigs subjected to several different physiological situations. Under basal, non-stressed conditions the corticoids are almost entirely protein-bound. Acute stress of ether or pentobarbital anesthesia and chronic stress of cold exposure increase markedly peripheral plasma corticoid levels; the increment in corticoids during acute stress is predominately unbound, while the increment during chronic cold is associated with protein precipitated by zinc sulfate.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.