Corticotropins (ACTH). X. Biological investigations on alpha-corticotropin.

Purified alpha-corticotropin has been reported to exercise the following biological effects: (a) stimulation of the adrenal glands in normal and hypophysectomized rats, (b) production of blood eosinopenia in hypophysectomized rats, (c) maintenance of muscle glycogen in hypophysectomized rats, (d) inhibition of growth-promoting activity of somatotropin, (e) stimulation of melanocytes in the skin of frogs, (f) mobilization of fat into the liver of fasted mice, (g) stimulation of the accessory sex glands of castrated-hypophysectomized male rats, (h) induction of deciduoma formation in hypophysectomized-oophorectomized rats, and (i) elevation of the total red cell volume in hypophysectomized rats. alpha-Corticotropin has also been shown for the first time to act in synergism with lactogenic hormone as an essential galactopoietic hormone. The ability of alpha-corticotropin to elicit biological responses in the absence of the adrenal cortex is discussed.