[Mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid functions of the adrenal cortex and some mechanisms of their regulation in obesity].

A study was made of 77 patients with adiposity and a group of healthy persons with normal weight. Patients with adiposity had a significant increase of blood plasma aldosterone level; of decisive role in the formation of secondary hyperaldosteronism was played by the elevation of blood renin level. Apparently activation of the renin-angiotensin system and the associated intensification of mineralocorticoid function of the adrenal glands served as one of the causes of development of arterial hypertension in persons with excessive weight. In adiposity there proved to be an increased rate of cortizol secretion and of 17-OCS excretion with the urine; as to the blood plasma cortizol concentration, it failed to show any significant difference from the normal. Apparently stable blood cortizol level in the patients with adiposity was maintained as a result of intensified ACTH secretion; in these patients reserve possibilities of the adrenocorticosteroid function of the hypophysis were diminished.