Effects of ACTH and Corticosteroids in the Regulation of Food and Water Intake

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the effects of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and corticosteroids in the regulation of food and water intake. The specific effects of ACTH and the adrenocortical hormones on food and water intake, however, remain unexplained. Clinical studies have often reported an increase in food intake of patients treated with adrenocortical hormones, but the issue has been clouded by the fact that the patients were frequently underweight to begin with, and the effect of the hormone on food intake was probably secondary to its effect on the general health and sense of well-being of the patient. In most of the experimental studies of the effect of the adrenocortical hormones on food intake and/or body weight changes in the intact animal, the administration of the exogenous hormone has inhibited weight gain or induced its loss. In the few quantitative experimental studies that have been made of the effect of the various glucocorticoids on food intake, the conclusion has been that these hormones, when administered exogenously, if anything, depress food intake.