Cited by 86Sleep and Wakefulness ResearchStress Responses and CortisolAdrenal Hormones and Disorders

Corticotropin-releasing hormone-induced adrenocorticotropin and cortisol secretion depends on sleep and wakefulness

Spath-Schwalbe, E.·1993·Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism

Abstract

Twenty-four-hour profiles of pituitary-adrenocortical secretory activity in humans are characterized by a distinct decrease in hormone secretion after sleep onset and a strong increase during the early morning hours. It is a widely accepted notion that this pattern of hormone secretion is driven by intrinsic circadian oscillators, and the contributions of sleep and wakefulness have been greatly neglected. Here, we examined whether there is a sleep-dependent inhibition of stimulated ACTH and cortisol release during early nocturnal sleep, which is dominated by slow wave sleep (SWS). We administered human CRH (hCRH; 50 micrograms), the main corticotropin secretagogue, to 14 healthy men during the first SWS period after sleep onset and another time in the same night during a period of stage 2 sleep in the second half of sleeping time. To discriminate possible circadian influences from influences of sleep, on a second night another two injections of hCRH were administered at identical points during the night to the same subject, who was kept awake. Exclusively during sleep, but only during SWS in the beginning of sleep time, ACTH and cortisol responses to hCRH were blunted. The results demonstrate an inhibiting influence of sleep on stimulated ACTH and cortisol secretion, with this effect restricted to the early part of sleep.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1210/jc.77.5.1170

Cites

0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Sleep, specifically SWS, contributes to the generation of this unique endocrine pattern in concert with circadian mechanisms.

    “Sleep, specifically SWS, contributes to the generation of this unique endocrine pattern in concert with circadian mechanisms (91,1125,1126,1129).”

    From About Sleep's Role in Memory (2013) · cites this paper as [1126]

  • The response of ACTH and cortisol to CRH administration, alone or with vasopressin, is blunted if the test is performed during nighttime sleep, especially during SWS, compared with nighttime wakefulness.

    “Furthermore, the response of ACTH and cortisol to a stimulus (CRH administration, alone or in association with vasopressin) has been shown to be blunted if the test was performed during nighttime sleep, and in particular during SWS, compared with nighttime wakefulness [44, 45].”

Cites

The publisher hasn’t deposited this paper’s reference list.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Spath-Schwalbe, E.
Venue
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism
Published
1993-11-01
Volume
77
Issue
5
Pages
1170-1173
ISSN
0021-972X (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W1983680482
Cited by
86
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 1
FWCI
0.81
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Adrenal Hormones and Disorders
Keywords
corticotropin-releasing factor, adrenocorticotropin secretion, cortisol secretion, sleep, slow-wave sleep, wakefulness, circadian rhythm, pituitary-adrenal axis, stage 2 sleep
MeSH terms
Adrenocorticotropic Hormone, Adult, Arginine Vasopressin, Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone, Humans, Hydrocortisone, Injections, Intravenous, Male, Sleep, Wakefulness

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review