PLASMA ANDROGENS AND 17-HYDROXYCORTICOSTEROIDS THROUGHOUT DAY IN SUBMARINE PERSONNEL

Plasma testosterone, androstenedione and 17-OH-corticosteroids were measured throughout the day in submarine personnel working a 24-hour day on land and then an 18-hour day during a sixty day ocean patrol. A diurnal rhythm was shown by plasma androgens with androstenedione decreasing more than twice as much as testosterone. When subjects had a normal 24-hour sleep-wake schedule, both androgens measured at six-hour intervals were highest at 7 a.m. and lowest at night. When the 17-OH-corticosteroid peak shifted from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. or 7 p.m. during a patrol with an eighteen-hour day, androstenedione also shifted its peak. The coefficient of correlation between 17-OH-corticosteroids and androstenedione was significant, P 〈.01〉 .001. There was no correlation between 17-OH-corticosteroids and testosterone, androstenedione and testosterone or testosterone and plasma LH. In the male, therefore, androstenedione shows the same pattern and magnitude of diurnal change as 17-OH-eorticosteroids, suggesting that it is primarily of adrenal origin. © 1968 Holden-Day, Inc.