[Blood cortisol level variations in burn patients and their relation to variations in plasma amino acids. Biochemical study of 19 subjects].

Cortisolemia from burn patients is measured during 28 days. The relation between the cortisolemia and values from 16 plasma amino acids is studied on the fourth and on the seventh day after injury. Cortisolemia is higher in the severely burned patients than in mild injured patients. A correlation between the burn surface area and the cortisolemia is found on day four and on day seven. Cortisolemia is also higher in nonsurvivors than in survivors. Plasma methionine, on day four, and plasma phenylalanine, on day seven, are correlated with cortisolemia. This result suggests that hyperphenylalaninemia results from protein breakdown which is essentially cortisol-mediated. However, cortisol does not seem to have a central place in control of amino acidemia after burn injury.