MATERIALS AND METHODS

Subjects. Informed written consent was obtained from four male and six female normal subjects Zl-to 31-yr-old (mean 26) and also from two male and two female subjects 29-to 46-yr-old (mean 36) who had previously undergone bilateral total adrenalectomy as therapy for Cushing’s syndrome. Three of these latter subjects had also undergone pituitary microsurgery and/or had received pituitary irradiation, but none were judged to be pituitary deficient as assessed by medical history, by physical examination, and by their normal basal values of circulating growth hormone and thyroid hormone; each was receiving adrenal steroid replacement therapy. All of the above subjects were within 15% of their ideal