24-Hour secretory pattern of dehydroisoandrosterone and dehydroisoandrosterone sulfate

Dehydroisoandrosterone (DHA) and cortisol were measured by radioimmunoassay and protein binding techniques respectively in plasma from blood taken at 20-min intervals over 24-h periods in 3 normal men, 2 women with Stein-Leventhal syndrome and a man with a benign adrenocortical adenoma. In all subjects but the latter, DHA and cortisol were episodic and synchronous throughout the entire day; in this patient, continuous secretion of cortisol by the tumor apparently abolished stimulation of the contralateral adrenal, and DHA production was negligible. Dehydroisoandrosterone sulfate analysis in plasma displayed a pattern which, probably because of its origin both by secretion and sulfation and its long half-life showed less synchronicity with DHA and cortisol and less fluctuation than did the free hormones.