Shigeichi Matsumura

Single-dose four hour dexamethasone suppression test in normal men and its application for the diagnosis of Cushing's syndrome.

As a four hour morning test, plasma cortisol levels were radioimmunoassayed before and at two and four hours after dexamethasone (0, 0.5 mg, 1.0 mg or 2.0 mg) was administered at 8-9 a.m. in 20 normal subjects. The 1.0 mg four hour test was most effective in suppression of cortisol and it showed the same suppressibility as the widely used single-dose overnight test. With the 1.0 mg four hour test, 2 patients with Cushings syndrome due to adrenal hyperplasia could be differentiated from normal and obese subjects. The four hour morning test would be more useful than the widely used overnight test from the reasons; i) it shows the same suppressibility as the overnight test, ii) it obviates the need for bothersome midnight administration of dexamethasone, iii) because it takes only one morning to perform, it can save a day, iv) and it might be applicable for the differential diagnosis of Cushings syndrome because 4.0 mg morning test resulted in complete suppression of plasma cortisol in a tested Cushings syndrome, whereas with even 8.0 mg, plasma cortisol was not suppressed in the overnight test in 2 such patients examined.

Dexamethasone suppressibility of plasma dehydroepiandrosterone (3β-hydroxy-5-androsten-17-one) in normal men

9 AM and overnight dexamethasone suppression tests were performed in normal adult subjects and plasma dehydroepiandrosterone (DHA) levels were radioimmunoassayed. The results were as follows: 1) In the 9 AM test, plasma DHA was suppressed to the lowest level at the time between 4 hours and 6 hours after dexamethasone; 2) 2 mg (overnight test) or 3 mg (9AM test) of dexamethasone induced the maximum DHA suppression; 3) after dexamethasone administration in both the tests, plasma DHA was not suppressed below 30% of the basal level, nor below 2 ng/ml; and 4) there was no significant difference in dexamethasone suppressibility of plasma DHA between 9 AM test and overnight test.

Gel chromatographic separation of human C-peptide and proinsulin

The immunoreactivity of circulating C-peptide is separated into two main peaks on a Bio-Gel column; the faster peak should not be proinsulin but an associated C-peptide without a covalent bond. Proinsulin is in fact eluted in the fraction prior to the faster eluting peak of C-peptide immunoreactivity with 1 M acetic acid as the eluting buffer. Therefore the use of gel chromatography to study C-peptide and proinsulin needs to be carefully re-evaluated, although the method has been established as one of the standard methods.

Clinical and Pathological Studies on 30 Biopsy Cases of Chronic Thyroiditis, with Special Reference to Physiological and Pathological Significance of Thyrotropin (TSH)

Thirty adult patients with histologically confirmed chronicthyroiditis were examined clinically and histologically to evaluate clinical, laboratory and histological correlations. In all cases, serum TSH was determined by radioimmunoassay prior to biopsy and other laboratory data were also obtained before the start of treatment. The patients were divided into 3 groups according to the value of the serum TSH as follows. Group I: TSH more than 50 ,au/ml, Group II: TSH49-10 pu/ml, Group III: TSH below 9 pu/ml. As laboratory data, protein bound iodine (PBI), T3-resin sponge uptake (T3-RSU), antibody titer against thyroglobulin by tanned red cell agglutination were measured in all cases. Thyroidal I131-uptake (per cent dose in 24 hours) was determined in 26 cases. The tissues for histological studies were obtained by open operation and microscopical sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin. The estimated histological features included follicular atrophy, diminution of colloid, active destruction of the follicles, hyperplasia and proliferationof the follicular epithelial cells, Hiirthle cell formation, giant cells in the follicles, formation of the lymphoid follicles, diffuse infiltration of lymphocytes and plasma cells, diffuse interfollicular fibrosis, interlobular fibrosis and vascular changes. 1. Clinical Observations The marked predilection for females was evident, only one patient being male. The average age in Group I was slightly younger than that in the other groups. In Group I, 8 of the 9 patients revealed some clinical symptoms of hypothyroidism. In the other two groups, many patients were clinically asymptomatic. Duration of goiter showed no significant difference among the groups and there was no intimate correlation between duration of goiter and laboratory findings.