Medical & Clinical Reviews

Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH; also adrenocorticotropin, corticotropin) may be a polypeptide tropic hormone produced by and secreted by the anterior pituitary gland gland. it's also used as a medicine and diagnostic agent. ACTH is a crucial component of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and is usually 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 by the cortex of the adrenal . ACTH is additionally associated with the biological time in many organisms.

Deficiency of ACTH may be a sign of secondary adrenal insufficiency (suppressed production of ACTH thanks to an impairment of the pituitary or hypothalamus, cf. hypopituitarism) or tertiary adrenal insufficiency (disease of the hypothalamus, with a decrease within the release of corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH)). Conversely, chronically elevated ACTH levels occur in primary adrenal insufficiency (e.g. Addison's disease) when adrenal production of cortisol is chronically deficient. In Cushing's disease a pituitary tumor is that the explanation for elevated ACTH (from the anterior pituitary) and an more than cortisol (hypercortisolism) – this constellation of signs and symptoms is understood as Cushing's syndrome