ACTH is the acronym that describes the adrenocorticotropic hormone, also known by the name of corticotropin or corticotropin; It is a hormone described as polypeptide, generated by the pituitary gland, thus stimulating the adrenal glands. This hormone is made up of about 39 amino acids, whose main function is to increase the secretion of the different glands called adrenal glands, including mineralocorticoids, glucocorticoids, gonadocorticoids, among others. The uniformity of this hormone is more complex, although it should be noted that it requires the amount of cortisol, which is a glucocorticoid; then if the latter is increasing, ACTH secretion is prevented.
But if cortisol is decreased, it is secreted by the hypothalamus, another hormone called CRH, which is the corticotropin-releasing hormone, which promotes or favors the release of ACTH. Its biological functionality is the induction or incitement in terms of cortisol secretion. Sources state that ACTH analysis is used as an indicator of pituitary function, it is also useful in the differential diagnosis of Cushing's syndrome, Addison's disease, and congenital adrenal hyperplasia.
This hormone attaches itself to the membrane receptors of the adrenocortical glands; and from this union, adenyl cyclase is activated, which causes an increase in the intracellular concentration of cAMP, at the same time the enzymes are activated, which are the cause of the transformation of cholesterol into pregnenolone, an initiator of glucocorticoids.
ACTH is a polypeptide composed of 39 amino acids, the sequence of which is not between species; It is important to mention that of these 39 amino acids, only 24 of them have known biological activity, the other 15 remaining at the carboxyl terminal end are highly variable.
