Intoxicating levels of ethanol per se do not result in activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in humans. However, gastrointestinal side-effects induced by the ethanol do result in such activation, which appears to be mediated by AVP as the dominant ACTH secretagogue. One of the factors which influences the blood ethanol level at which GI side-effects occur appears to be background alcohol intake.

No abstract

It has been suggested that atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) is the long-sought inhibitor of corticotropin (ACTH) secretion, but the evidence is conflicting. We have examined the effect of ANP and C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) on the secretion of ACTH by perifused equine pituitary cells in an in vitro milieu intended to mimic the in vivo milieu in the horse. Corticotropin-releasing hormone (20 pM) and cortisol (0 or 100 nM) were perifused continuously and 7 pulses of arginine vasopressin (AVP; 10 nM) applied for 5 min at 30-min intervals. ANP (1 nM) or CNP (1 nM) were perifused continuously for 75 min, beginning before the 3rd AVP pulse. Neither ANP nor CNP, with or without cortisol, significantly altered the ACTH secretory response to the AVP pulses. We conclude that these natriuretic peptides are unlikely to act at the pituitary as rapid inhibitors of ACTH secretion in the horse.