Stress hormone

Subject: Science and tech

Context:

Researchers have reported in The Lancet that Covid-19 patients with very high levels of cortisol in their blood are more likely to deteriorate quickly and die.

Concept:

• Cortisol is a steroid hormone, one of the glucocorticoids, made in the cortex of the adrenal glandsand then released into the blood, which transports it all round the body.
• Almost every cell contains receptors for cortisol and so cortisol can have lots of different actions depending on which sort of cells it is acting upon.
• These effects include controlling the body’s blood sugar levels and thus regulating metabolism, acting as an anti-inflammatory, influencing memory formation, controlling salt and water balance, influencing blood pressure and helping development of the foetus. In many species cortisol is also responsible for triggering the processes involved in giving birth.
• The drug dexamethasone, which recent research has shown to reduce death rates in COVID patients, acts by imitating cortisol and reducing the production of cortisol. I
• In healthy people, cortisol levels are 100-200 nm/L when resting, and nearly zero when we sleep.