RESPONSES OF ANTERIOR PITUITARY HORMONES TO FEVER DURING COMMUNITY-ACQUIRED INFECTIONS
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Özlem Alıcı 1 * , Cemile Koca 2, Arif Kaya 3, Feridun Karakurt 4, Ayşe Çarlıoğlu 4, Ali Koşar 3, Mehmet Kanbay 3
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1 Fatih University School of Medicine, Department of Infectious Disease, Ankara, Turkey2 Fatih University School of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry, Ankara, Turkey3 Fatih University School of Medicine, Department of Internal medicine, Ankara, Turkey4 Fatih University School of Medicine, Department of Endocrinology, Ankara, Turkey* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Aim: The aim of the study was to determine the responses of adrenal corticotropic hormone (ACTH), cortisol, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and prolactin (PRL) levels during community-acquired infections with fever and to compare changes of these hormones to febrile and afebrile episodes. Methods: Plasma levels of ACTH, serum levels of cortisol, TSH and PRL of 60 hospitilized patients were evaluated prospectively. Blood samples from study group were taken 2 times; during pyrexia and one hour after decreasing of fever. Only one blood sample was taken from each control patient and time of blood sampling was same for all of them. Results: 60 hospitalized patients were included to the study. Of these, 29 were study group, 31 were control group. In febrile patients with infection; plasma ACTH levels was higher than the control group (37,35±35,82 pg/mL vs 22,78±28,84 pg/mL) but no statistical significance was found (p=0,101). Serum cortisol levels was higher than the control group (28,88±13,12 ug/dL vs 17,68±7,88 ug/dL) (p<0,001). There were no differences in serum PRL and TSH levels between the two groups. In the study group plasma ACTH and cortisol levels were significantly increased in febrile periods when compared to afebrile periods (32,21±28,51 pg/mL vs 18,93±22,86. pg/mL; p=0,002) and (28,32±12,96 ug/dL vs 23,09±15,05 ug/dL; p=0,024) respectively. In PRL and TSH levels there was no statistically significance. Conclusion: We concluded that plasma ACTH and serum cortisol elevations are common in acute infectious diseases, and they are more sensitive to increasing of body temperature. The two peptides may be involved in central mediation of fever, perhaps limiting the febrile response acting as neuromodulators in central thermoregulatory pathways.

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Original Article

EUR J GEN MED, Volume 5, Issue 4, October 2008, 216-221

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejgm/82610

Publication date: 15 Oct 2008

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