Estradiol, but not testosterone, heightens cortisol-mediated negative feedback on pulsatile ACTH secretion and ACTH approximate entropy in unstressed older men and women

Sharma, Animesh N.; Aoun, Paul; Wigham, Jean R.; Weist, Suanne M.; Veldhuis, Johannes D.

doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00551.2013

Estradiol, but not testosterone, heightens cortisol-mediated negative feedback on pulsatile ACTH secretion and ACTH approximate entropy in unstressed older men and women

How sex steroids modulate glucocorticoid feedback on the hypothalamic-pituitary-corticotrope (HPC) unit is controversial in humans. We postulated that testosterone (T) in men and estradiol (E 2 ) in women govern unstressed cortisol-mediated negative feedback on ACTH secretion. To test this hypoth…