AI overview
Corticotropin is a hormone your body produces that signals your adrenal glands to release cortisol, another important hormone that helps you manage stress and maintain normal body functions. It matters because without corticotropin, your body couldn't properly regulate cortisol levels, which would affect how you handle stress, your energy levels, and various other vital processes.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Research
71,198 papers- Corticotropin-releasing factor.Endocrine reviews · 1982
- Corticotropin receptors.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 1987
- Repository corticotropin injection in multiple sclerosis: an update.Neurodegenerative disease management · 2018
- The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis: A Brief History.Hormone research in paediatrics · 2018
- Corticotropin-releasing hormone: clinical applications.Annual review of medicine · 1989
via PubMed
Article
Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH; also adrenocorticotropin, corticotropin) is a polypeptide tropic hormone produced by and secreted by the anterior pituitary gland. It is also used as a medication and diagnostic agent. ACTH is an important component of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and is often produced in response to biological stress (along with its precursor corticotropin-releasing hormone from the hypothalamus). Its principal effects are increased production and release of cortisol and androgens by the zona fasciculata and zona reticularis, respectively. ACTH is also related to the circadian rhythm in many organisms.
Deficiency of ACTH is an indicator of secondary adrenal insufficiency (suppressed production of ACTH due to an impairment of the pituitary gland or hypothalamus, cf. hypopituitarism) or tertiary adrenal insufficiency (disease of the hypothalamus, with a decrease in the release of corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH)). Conversely, chronically elevated ACTH levels occur in primary adrenal insufficiency (e.g. Addison's disease) when adrenal gland production of cortisol is chronically deficient. In Cushing's disease, a pituitary tumor leads to excessive production of ACTH, which stimulates the adrenal cortex to produce high levels of cortisol.