Medicine, St. Louis, Mo.) 17-Hydroxycorticosteroids Of
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BINDING OF CORTICOSTEROIDS BY PLASMA PROTEINS. III. THE BINDING OF CORTICOSTEROID AND RELATED HORMONES BY HUMAN PLASMA AND PLASMA PROTEIN FRAC- TIONS AS MEASURED BY EQUILIBRIUM DIALYSIS 1, 2 BY WILLIAM H. DAUGHADAY WITH THE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE OF IDA KOZAK (From the Metabolism Dizision, Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Mo.) (Submitted for publication September 30, 1957; accepted December 5, 1957) The physical state of the corticosteroid hor- drawn, although little loss of binding affinity occurred mones in human plasma has been under investi- after storage at -10° C. The conditions of dialysis were the same as previously reported (2). Usually 10 ml. of gation in this laboratory. Dialysis equilibrium ex- plasma in a cellophane bag (Visking nojax, 18/32 casing) periments have been reported which show that the was dialyzed against 40 ml. of Krebs phosphosaline buf- 17-hydroxycorticosteroids of plasma are bound to fer, pH 7.4 (4), in a large test tube. Where a high de- plasma proteins to an extent of more than 90 per gree of binding was anticipated, 80 ml. of buffer was cent (2). Of the plasma protein fractions tested used. In several experiments where the amount of plasma or plasma protein fraction was limited, 5 ml. of protein for their cortisol binding power with high con- solution was dialyzed against 40 ml. of buffer. The ra- centrations of cortisol, albumin had the greatest dioactive and nonradioactive steroids were included in binding affinity. The importance of albumin was the dialysis buffer by diluting an alcoholic solution of apparently further supported by equilibrium pa- the steroids with buffer. The final alcohol concentration per electrophoresis conducted with cortisol-4-C14 of alcohol was below 1 per cent in all experiments. Although equilibrium conditions are reached for all prac- in which the greatest concentration of radioactivity tical purposes in 24 hours, the dialyses were allowed to was associated with the albumin component of continue for 48 hours at 40 C. plasma (3). It was difficult, however, to ex- The buffer was separated from the plasma at the con- plain the greater binding of 17-hydroxycortico- clusion of the dialysis and the volume measured. It was steroids in plasma than that which occurred in then extracted three times with ethyl acetate using 1.0, 1.0, and 0.5 volumes of solvent. The extracts were equilibrium dialysis experiments using cortisol pooled and evaporated to dryness in a boiling flask. and albumin. This discrepancy has prompted a The protein concentration of the plasma was measured thorough reinvestigation of corticosteroid binding by a biuret method (5). The plasma was extracted a at physiologic levels of hormone by plasma and single time with five volumes of chloroform in a stoppered plasma protein fractions. Progress has been tube. Emulsions were broken by centrifugation and the steroids, supernatant plasma was removed by suction. Anhy- greatly aided by the availability of labeled drous sodium sulfate was used to dry the extract and an greatly simplifying the analytical techniques. Evi- aliquot, usually 20 ml., was evaporated to dryness in a dence indicating the presence of two independent small boiling flask. corticosteroid binding systems in plasma is pre- The steroid residues were carefully dissolved in 1.5 sented in this paper. ml. of ethyl alcohol and then 0.5 ml. of 8 per cent glu- cose was added and mixed well. Duplicate aliquots of this solution were pipetted into tared brass cups con- METHODS taining disks of lens paper. The cups were reweighed Heparinized blood was obtained from normal adult after drying under an infrared light. Radioactivity was laboratory workers and students in midmorning fol- determined with a windowless gas flow counter operat- lowing a light breakfast. In most experiments plasma ing in the proportional range. The observed counts were was used for binding studies on the day that it was corrected to infinite thinness using an experimentally determined curve prepared with cortisol-4-C'4. The glu- 'Reported in part at the Annual Meeting of the Cen- cose provides a smooth adhesive glaze. Recovery of tral Society for Clinical Research, November, 1956 (1). added cortisol-4-C14, using these extraction and counting 2This investigation was supported by a research techniques, has varied between 90 and 105 per cent. grant, C-255, from the National Institute of Arthritis and Control experiments in the absence of plasma have failed Metabolic Diseases of the National Institutes of Health, to show significant adsorption of the labeled steroids on Public Health Service. the glass or dialyzing membranes. 511 512 WILLIAM H. DAUGHADAY This expression has the form of an association constant but cannot be calculated in molecular terms because the molecular weights of the binding proteins other than al- 1.0- bumin are unknown. For most of the steroids studied C K % & '. ..-~-A - -.- -A- --- - Estrone is not constant for human plasma but is greatly influenced 'I by the concentrations of the steroids in the system. K UBy '--.-_- Testosterone This simple formulation provides an empiric method for a 0.I- comparing the binding observed with plasma and plasma protein fractions of different protein and steroid con- ai 0 (A Corticost:erone centrations. 0 x Cortisol .L RESULTS I Ii. 0o1- The binding of progesterone-4-Cl, corticoster- ?. one-4-C14, cortisol-4-C04, testosterone-4-C4, and estrone-16-C04 by human plasma has been meas- I I10 100 1000 ured in the presence of different amounts of car- 04. STEROID ADDED rier steroid added to the dialysis equilibrium sys- FIG. 1. CHANGES IN THE BINDING AFFINITY OF NOR- MAL HUMAN PLASMA FOR CORTISOL-4-C14, CORTICOSTER- tem. The changes in combining affinities with in- ONE-4-C4, PROGESTERONE-4-C14, TESTOSTERONE-4-C1, AND creasing concentrations of steroid have been ESTRONE-16-C1 IN THE PRESENCE OF INCREASING plotted on a double logarithmic scale in Figure 1. AMOUNTS OF TOTAL STEROID IN A STANDARD DIALYSIS At the lowest concentrations studied, the two cor- EQUILIBRIUM SYSTEM CONTAINING 10 ML. OF PLASMA AND 80 ML. OF BUFFER ticosteroid hormones (cortisol and corticosterone) are bound nearly completely to the plasma pro- Corticosterone-4-C'4 and cortisol-4-C14, with specific teins. When more steroid is added to the system activities of 1.467 millicuries per millimole, were ob- there is a large decrease in the affinity of binding. tained from the Endocrinology Study Section of the National Institutes of Health. Progesterone-4-C'4, with After a transition phase, further additions of a specific activity of 1.63 millicuries per millimole, was cortisol and corticosterone make relatively little prepared by Tracerlab, Boston, Massachusetts. Estrone- difference in the measured affinity. The behavior 16-C" and estradiol-16-C1', with specific activities of 0.74 of estrone in comparable experiments is quite millicuries per millimole, were supplied by Charles E. different in that the binding affinity is not signifi- Frost Co., Montreal. Testosterone4-C'4, with a specific activity of 1.44 millicuries per millimole, was obtained cantly influenced by the amount of estrone added from the Ray Chem Laboratories, Elmsford, New York. to the system. The results with progesterone The nonradioactive steroids were either in crystalline form or as a fine crystalline suspension in talc (U. S. P. Reference Standard Steroids). The steroids were ex- tracted from the latter preparations with ethyl alcohol 90- and diluted to the desired concentration with the dialysis buffer. dm%-WV- The combining affinity of a protein solution for a given az I 0 steroid under the specified conditions of protein and a steroid concentration has been expressed in the follow- *- 70- (140) z ing way: hi Bound steroid 60. C (combining affinity) =-.Unbound steroid X protein Unbound steroid: This is the steroid which is not 90-1 bound to protein as determined by the steroid con- centration of the buffer corrected for the lower wa- ter content within the dialysis bag. 6 S&to o io 4o 50 *!0SO 70A O Bound steroid: The steroid bound to protein is the pV/ 100 ML. PLASMA difference between the concentration of total steroid CORTIOLS within the dialysis bag and the concentration of free FIG. 2. THE CALCULATED CHANGES IN THE PERCENT- steroid. AGE OF CORTISOL BINDING BY HUMAN PLASMA PLOTTED Protein: The concentration of protein within the bag AGAINST THE TOTAL CORTISOL CONCENTRATION OF PLASMA after dialysis is expressed as milligrams per milli- These calculations were made from the data sum- liter. marized in Figure 1. BINDING OF CORTICOSTEROID HORMONES BY PLASMA 513 TABLE I A comparison of the ability of related steroids to inhibit the binding of cortisol-4-C4 * F-4-C4t Competing steroid Amount Plasma Free Bound Protein Ct pg. cpm/ml. cpm/ml. mg./ml. None 0 A 4.1 297 66.1 1.095 B 3.3 262 60.7 1.33 D 3.7 245 61.5 1.08 9a-fluorocortisol 10 B 5.9 254 63.7 0.68 10.2 D 4.7 252 62.8 0.86 d, 1-aldosterone 10 C 5.8 225 60.3 0.64 3a, 11,, 17a, 21-tetrahydroxy- 10 A 7.2 248 67.1 0.51 pregnane-20-one 11i, 17a, 21-trihydroxy- 10 A 9.3 237 68.8 0.37 pregnane-3, 20-dione Progesterone 8.7 D 12.4 208 61.3 0.27 Cortisone 10 B 15.9 205 59.9 0.22 1 la-hydroxycortisol 10 B 15.2 222 61.2 0.24 11-desoxycorticosterone 10 A 25 179 71.1 0.10 17a-hydroxyprogesterone 9.14 C 25.5 138.5 61.7 0.080 Prednisolone 9.97 C 29.5 125.7 60.8 0.070 11-desoxycortisol (Compound S) 10 B 36.9 121.1 60.6 0.054 21-desoxycortisol 9.57 C 29.1 97.8 61.4 0.055 Corticosterone 10 A 32 113 66 0.053 2-methylcortisol 10.4 D 32 106 64 0.053 Cortisol 10 A 34.4 110.6 69 0.048 10 B 38.5 106.5 63 0.044 10 C 32.3 92.3 64 0.045 10 D 31.5 98.0 61.4 0.051 *Conditions-Ten ml.