T HE anatomic features of the adrenal cortex of the newborn infant have long been known to differ strikingly from those of the adult. Furthermore, marked involutionary changes occur in this gland during the first few days of extra-uterine life. These facts raise the question as to whether there may be differences in function as well. Efforts to study this problem by assaying the excretion of adrenal cortical metabolites in the urine of newly-born infants have recently been made. These have demonstrated that small amounts of such substances, as measured by both chemical and biologic methods, are present in the urine during the newborn period (1, 2, 3). It has also been shown that the adrenal cortex of the newborn infant responds to stress in a manner similar to that of the adult (3).
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