In the adrenals of male rats with manifest form of alloxan-induced diabetes mellitus (blood glucose >20 mmol/liter), the content of progesterone was higher by 1.6 times, deoxycorticosterone by 2.5 times, corticosterone by 3.3 times, and 11-dehydrocorticosterone by 1.8 times than in the adrenals of control animals. Increased concentration of corticosterone and 11-dehydrocorticosterone were also found in the serum of rats with alloxan diabetes, but the difference between the experimental and control groups by these parameters was less pronounced compared to parameters in the adrenal glands.

Blood concentration of corticosterone in obese rats did not differ from the control value. In vitro synthesis of progesterone and corticosterone in adrenal slices from obese rats was lower compared to control animals, but these differences disappeared after addition of adrenocorticotropic hormone to the incubation medium. In obese rats, blood content of corticosterone in response to administration of adrenocorticotropic hormone in vivo increased by 8 times, while in control animals this parameter increased by only 4.5 times.