Plasma Agouti-Related Protein and Cortisol Levels in Cushing Disease: Evidence for the Regulation of Agouti-Related Protein by Glucocorticoids in Humans

Glucocorticoids regulate energy balance, in part by stimulating the orexigenic neuropeptide agouti-related protein (AgRP). AgRP neurons express glucocorticoid receptors, and glucocorticoids have been shown to stimulate AgRP gene expression in rodents.We sought to determine whether there is a relationship between plasma AgRP and hypothalamic AgRP in rats and to evaluate the relationship between cortisol and plasma AgRP in humans.We...