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Impact of short-term hydrocortisone intake on pituitary and adrenal function in healthy young male subjects

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of short-term therapeutic hydrocortisone intake on pituitary and adrenal function in healthy young male subjects.

Methods

Ten physically active men received 50 mg/per day of hydrocortisone at 8:00 a.m. for 5 days. Cortisol, DHEA, and ACTH concentrations in plasma, and cortisol and DHEA concentrations in saliva were determined the week before, just before (8:00 a.m.) and 2 h after (10:00 a.m.) drug ingestion on days 1, 3, and 5 of treatment and day 1 post treatment.

Results

Hydrocortisone intake induced a significant increase in both plasma cortisol (×3) and saliva cortisol (×10) concentrations 2 h after administration. Plasma and saliva DHEA concentrations were significantly decreased, as were plasma ACTH concentrations, 2 h after administration, with an increase in the cortisol/DHEA and cortisol/ACTH ratios. However, no change in cortisol, DHEA, ACTH, cortisol/DHEA, or cortisol/ACTH was observed 24 h after the last intake during treatment or post treatment, except for a downward trend in saliva DHEA at days 3 and 5. The correlations between plasma and saliva cortisol, DHEA, and cortisol/DHEA were significant: respectively, r = 0.80, r = 0.80, and r = 0.88.

Conclusions

Once-daily oral therapeutic administration of hydrocortisone for 5 days altered adrenal DHEA secretion by inhibiting pituitary ACTH, but this effect seemed transient without significant impairment of basal adrenal or pituitary function 24 h after administration. Given the high correlations between plasma and saliva, saliva samples may be offered as a sensitive surrogate for blood sampling to estimate adrenal and pituitary function.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to express their gratitude to the subjects for their dedicated performance. In addition, we likewise thank Cathy Carmeni, Nathalie Crépin, Marie Dauga, Aurélie Despujols, and Sophie Tollec for their expert assistance.

Funding

This project was carried out with the support of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CIAMS, Université d’Orléans, Orléans, France

    Katia Collomp

  2. Université Paris-Saclay CIAMS, Orsay, France

    Katia Collomp

  3. Département des Analyses, AFLD, Chatenay-Malabry, France

    Katia Collomp, Barbara Robin, Magnus Ericsson & Corinne Buisson

  4. Service de Médecine du Sport, CHR Orléans, Orléans, France

    Virgile Amiot

Authors
  1. Katia Collomp
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  2. Virgile Amiot
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Correspondence to Katia Collomp.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the National Research Committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. All individual participants included in the study provided written informed consent according to Institutional Review Board guidelines for the protection of human subjects.

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Collomp, K., Amiot, V., Robin, B. et al. Impact of short-term hydrocortisone intake on pituitary and adrenal function in healthy young male subjects. Endocrine 70, 164–169 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-020-02450-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-020-02450-x

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