To prove the clinical usefulness of cortisol measurements in saliva for the exact assessment of a patient's corticoid status under therapeutic hormone substitution, we measured simultaneously total cortisol in serum and non-protein-bound cortisol in saliva after administration of different forms of hydrocortisone (cortisol) in eight cortisol-suppressed, healthy male volunteers. The intravenous ...

BACKGROUND Critical illness is often accompanied by hypercortisolemia, which has been attributed to stress-induced activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. However, low corticotropin levels have also been reported in critically ill patients, which may be due to reduced cortisol metabolism. METHODS In a total of 158 patients in the intensive care unit and 64 matched controls, we ...

Prior research has linked either basal cortisol levels or stress-induced cortisol responses to adiposity; however, it remains to be determined whether these distinct cortisol measures exert joint or independent effects. Further, it is unclear how they interact with individual and environmental characteristics to predict adiposity. The present study aims to address whether morning cortisol level...

Jensen, Ellen, Charles E. Wood, and Maureen Keller-Wood. Chronic alterations in ovine maternal corticosteroid levels influence uterine blood flow and placental and fetal growth. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 288: R54–R61, 2005. First published July 1, 2004; doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00149.2004.—Previous work from this laboratory demonstrated that the elevation of maternal plasma corticostero...

Background: Stress in preterm neonates is associated with morbidity and mortality. Preterm newborns who are in need of special care are at risk of experiencing stress because of separation from the mother, ambient noises, lighting intensity, and medical procedures. Massage is believed to reduce stress through touch stimulation, and the cortisol is one of the indicators of the stress response. T...

BACKGROUND Blunted diurnal cortisol variation has been associated with overt cardiovascular disease in adults. The relationship between the diurnal cortisol variation and subclinical atherosclerosis in youth has yet to be investigated. The objectives of this study were to (1) determine the relationship between overnight cortisol measures and CIMT in overweight and obese, African-American and La...

This study aimed to develop a nonlabeled method for the measurement of cortisol production rate to evaluate adrenal function. The cortisol production rate determination requires that of cortisol clearance, which is not a parameter but a variable resulting from the saturable binding of cortisol to corticosteroid-binding globulin (CBG). Our method is based on evaluation of the plasma clearance of...

OBJECTIVE To compare salivary, plasma and urinary free cortisol (UFC) measurements in patients with anorexia nervosa, in whom an overdrive of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is well established but information on salivary cortisol is lacking, in viscerally obese patients in whom subtle abnormalities of cortisol secretion and metabolism are postulated, and in normal-weight healthy ...

Although elevated plasma cortisol levels and a reduction in food intake are common features of the response to stress in fish, the potential role of cortisol in the regulation of food intake in these animals is poorly understood. In this study, goldfish (Carassius auratus) were fed ad libitum for 21 days diets prepared to contain 0 (Control), 50 (Low) or 500 (High) microg cortisol/g of food. Wh...