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THE EFFECTS OF BETAMETHASONE AND FRACTURE ON NITROGEN METABOLISM
Author(s) -
Campbell Rosa M.,
Cuthbertson D. P.,
Pullar J. D.
Publication year - 1964
Publication title -
quarterly journal of experimental physiology and cognate medical sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.925
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1469-445X
pISSN - 0033-5541
DOI - 10.1113/expphysiol.1964.sp001714
Subject(s) - betamethasone , excretion , chemistry , catabolism , endocrinology , medicine , nitrogen , protein catabolism , nitrogen balance , protein metabolism , metabolism , zoology , biochemistry , amino acid , biology , organic chemistry
Previous work had shown that the reaction to physical trauma involves an increase in protein catabolism and a corresponding increase in heat output. In the rat, following fracture of a long bone, the maximum urinary nitrogen excretion and heat output were reached on the 3rd day following injury and declined thereafter. Implantation of 25 mg. cortisone acetate was also shown to induce a similar rise in protein catabolism. In both cases the extra nitrogen excreted was mainly as urea. The effect of 1 mg. of the steroid betamethasone on nitrogen excretion was similar in magnitude to that of fracture as measured over a period of 10 days, but the response to betamethasone was immediate, the maximum effect lasting only 1 day and no increase in heat output was observed to be coupled with the increased excretion of nitrogen. When fracture and 1 mg. betamethasone were applied together the resultant course of increased urinary nitrogen excretion reflected the characteristics of the two separate effects, both in pattern of excretion and in amounts of nitrogen excreted. When the times of the separate maximum effects of fracture and betamethasone were made to coincide, the maximum rise in urinary nitrogen was practically a summation of the separate maxima.