Description

The pituitary gland releases a hormone called adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which plays a big role in how your body reacts to stress. When ACTH is released, it tells your adrenal glands to make the “stress hormone” cortisol and androgens (a group of sex hormones). Hormones are chemicals that send messages through your blood to your organs, skin, muscles, and other tissues. This helps your body’s different systems work together. Your body gets messages from these signals about what to do and when to do it.

The pituitary gland is a small gland about the size of a pea. It is at the base of your brain, just below the hypothalamus. It’s part of your system of hormones. Your pituitary gland has two parts, or sections, called lobes. The anterior lobe is in the front, and the posterior lobe is in the back.

The anterior pituitary lobe makes ACTH and sends it out into the body. What is adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) used for? Adrenocorticotropic hormone’s main job is to get your adrenal glands to make more cortisol. Cortisol is an important hormone that affects almost all of your body’s organs and tissues. Cortisol is often called the “stress hormone,” but it has many other important effects and roles in your body besides controlling how your body responds to stress. Cortisol’s important duties include: Keeping your body’s response to stress in check. Maintaining your metabolism and how your body uses fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. Reducing inflammation. Keeping blood pressure in check. Regulating blood sugar.

Keeping your sleep-wake cycle in balance. ACTH also plays a role in getting your adrenal glands to release androgens, which are sex hormones, and in getting your body to make chemicals that cause other hormones, like adrenaline and noradrenaline, to make more of themselves. How are the levels of ACTH kept in check? Your hypothalamus, pituitary gland, adrenal glands, and certain hormones work together in a feedback system to control the amount of adrenocorticotropic hormone in your body. This is known as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.

Your hypothalamus is linked to your pituitary gland by a stalk made up of blood vessels and nerves. Your hypothalamus talks to your pituitary gland through the stalk and tells it to make certain hormones. The part of your brain called the hypothalamus controls things like your blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, and digestion. The following steps are part of the feedback system that controls ACTH levels: When your cortisol levels are low, your hypothalamus releases corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH). Your anterior pituitary lobe releases ACTH when CRH tells it to.

Then, ACTH tells your adrenal glands, specifically your adrenal cortex, to release cortisol and androgens. The feedback loop is complete when the increase in cortisol tells your hypothalamus to lower the amount of CRH. Stress also makes the body make more adrenocorticotropic hormone, which makes cortisol levels rise. If your hypothalamus, pituitary gland, or adrenal glands aren’t working right, it can throw off the balance of hormones like ACTH that are involved in this process. How much ACTH is normal?

Like cortisol, the level of ACTH in your blood usually peaks in the morning and goes down throughout the day, reaching its lowest level around midnight. If you work nights and sleep at different times, this pattern can change. Because of this, most ACTH tests need to take blood in the morning. Most of the time, low cortisol levels are caused by a problem with the pituitary gland, while high cortisol levels are usually caused by a problem with the adrenal glands.