DYNAMIC ASYMMETRIES IN THE CORTICOSTEROID FEEDBACK PATH AND DISTRIBUTION METABOLISM‐BINDING ELEMENTS OF THE ADRENOCORTICAL SYSTEM *

Effective analysis of physiological systems requires knowledge about their dynamic characteristics. In the case of the endocrine control systems, such information is difficult to obtain, and, understandably, a great part of the endocrine literature emphasizes mainly the static characteristics of components or their connectivity. In 1961, Clynes pointed out that unidirectional rate sensitivity is a dynamic characteristic that may be present in a variety of biological systems, and that its properties could establish a two-channel mode of control of a variable that he termed “rein He further suggested that hormonal systems might have such properties. His ideas prompted the present work, which has explored dynamic asymmetries within the adrenocortical system, and has led to the discovery of unidirectional rate-sensitive properties within the corticosteroid negative feedback path of that system. As a result of the present work, the adrenocortical system appears to have asymmetrical dynamic properties that could qualify it to serve as one channel, or rein, in multiple-channel chemical control arrangements.

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