CORTICOSTEROIDS IN AMPHIBIA, REPTILIA, AND AVES

The reversal of the carbon monoxide inhibition by bands of monochromatic light was determined for the oxidative demethylation of codeine and monomethyl-4-aminopyrine and the hydroxylation of acetanilide by rat liver microsomes and for the hydroxylation of 17-hydroxyprogesterone at carbon-21 by bovine adrenocortical microsomes. Maximum reversal occurred at 450 millimicrons, the light absorption maximum of the CO compound of the CO-binding pigment of microsomes. The agreement between photochemical action spectrum and spectrophotometric difference spectrum supports the conclusion that the CO-binding pigment is the terminal oxidase of mixed function oxidase systems of mammals.

1. A new method for the determination of an immediate precursor of a substance occurring in the animal body is presented. 2. Calculations on the quantitative determination of the rate of turnover of a substance and their application to experiments involving the use of labeling agents are given. These calculations take into account loss of the isotopic substance by way of breakdown or transport.