Three-Letter Wonder?

The magical powers of ACTH (adrenocorticotrophic hormone) may be equaled among the checks & balances of the human body by the no less magical STH (somatotrophic hormone), it was suggested last week. Montreal's imaginative and original Dr. Hans Selye told a meeting of scientists in Lancaster, Pa. of preliminary evidence that STH increases resistance to bacterial invaders.

STH is secreted by the front part of the pituitary, a pea-sized gland near the base of the brain. Like ACTH, it is a master hormone which seems to control some of the workings of the entire body. Just what these workings are, Dr. Selye does not yet know; he is trying to fit the reactions caused by STH into his vast and complex theory of the body's adaptation to conditions of stress (TIME, Oct. 9). But he thinks he is on the track.

When Dr. Selye injected rats with overdoses of ACTH, the animals quickly lost weight and developed abscesses of the lungs, kidneys, liver and spleen. No new infection-causing organisms had been introduced; it was what Selye calls "spontaneous infection" by bacteria, present before the injection, which multiplied when the excess of ACTH reduced the animals' resistance. Injections of STH caused the animals to gain weight, brought on no bacterial disease. When STH and ACTH were injected together, the STH acted like a safety catch and prevented the ACTH from triggering an explosive infection.

More data must be collected before Selye will be ready to try STH on human patients. Then, if the hormone proves effective in treating or in preventing infection, years must pass before it can be fully tested and produced in quantity. Often called the growth hormone, STH has been known for years, but only minute amounts are extracted from the pituitaries of beef cattle. So far, Selye has used 40 grams (about an ounce and a half).

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