Endocrine Abstracts

Purpose: Sepsis is hallmarked by high circulating glucocorticoids in face of low plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) (1). At the hypothalamic-pituitary level, ongoing stress-induced corticotropin-releasing hormone- (CRH) and arginine vasopressin- (AVP) driven expression of the ACTH-precursor POMC coincides with impaired proprotein convertase 1 (PC1/3)-mediated processing into ACTH, with ultimately leaching of unprocessed POMC into the circulation (2). Despite uncertainty...

Background: Sepsis is hallmarked by an immediate and sustained decrease in total-, HDL-, and LDL- cholesterol, associated with poor outcome and suggested to be a potential contributor to adrenal failure and muscle weakness in the critically ill. Although the underlying mechanisms are unclear, this sepsis-induced hypocholesterolemia has been postulated to be due to an increased conversion of cholesterol to cortisol. We hypothesized that hydrocortisone (HC) trea...