Psychosomatic Medicine 21:379-386 (1959)
© 1959 American Psychosomatic Society

Blood Corticotropin and Adrenal Weight Maintenance Factor Levels of Anxious Patients and Normal Subjects

¹ Institute of Psychiatric Research, Indiana University Medical Center, Indianapolis, Indiana

A group of anxious, hypercorticoid patients were shown to have a mean plasma level of AWMF (a relatively new corticotropic substance), more than twice that of a group of normal, eucorticoid subjects. The mean blood level of AADF, the conventional corticotropin, was higher in the anxious group but not significantly so. By a single classification analysis of variance, the levels of both AWMF and AADF were shown to be significantly correlated with the clinical anxiety rating. It is presently unclear whether AWMF and AADF occur simultaneously in the blood in detectable quantities. It was suggested that a critical anxiety region exists below which neither AWMF or AADF is present in the blood.