Adrenal corticosteroids

Adrenal corticosteroid is the general term for adrenal cortex hormones, belonging to steroid compounds. It can be divided into three categories:
(1)  mineralocorticoid hormone secreted by Zona glomerulosa, including aldosterone and deoxycorticosterone and so on.
(2)  glucocorticoid, it is synthesized and secreted from the zona fasciculata, including hydrocortisone and cortisone, etc., its secretion and production are regulated by the adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH).
(3)  sex hormones, secreted by the zona reticularis, usually referred to adrenocortical hormones, excluding such kind of sex hormones.
Commonly used clinical adrenocortical hormones mainly refer to glucocorticoids. Under physiological conditions, the secretion of glucocorticoids mainly affects the metabolism of substances. Glucocorticoids beyond physiological dose have anti-inflammatory, anti-immune and other pharmacological effects.

ACTH is a kind of important hormones that maintain the normal adrenal gland and function. Its synthesis and secretion proceed inside the pituitary basophilic cells when the anterior pituitary is under the action of hypothalamus corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH). Glucocorticoids play a long negative feedback effect on hypothalamus and anterior pituitary, inhibiting the secretion of CRH and ACTH. In physiological conditions, the hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal gland are maintained in a relative dynamic balance with ACTH deficiency being able to cause adrenal cortical atrophy and its reduced secretion capability. The ACTH also has a short negative feedback regulation that controls its own release.

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