Corticotropin

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A hormone produced by the anterior pituitary gland that stimulates the adrenal cortex to release steroid hormones such as cortisol
2. A polypeptide secreted by the pituitary that prompts the outer layer of the adrenal glands to produce corticosteroids
3. A pituitary-derived hormone acting on the adrenal cortex to regulate the output of glucocorticoids in the body

Etymology: Corticotropin is a compound built from two Greek and Latin pieces, and its name records what the hormone does. The first part, "cortico-", comes from Latin "cortex", meaning bark or rind, and in modern science it refers to the outer layer of an organ, here the adrenal cortex, the outer shell of the adrenal gland. The second part, "-tropin", descends from Ancient Greek "tropḗ", meaning a turning or change, from the verb "trépō", to turn. A hormone that "turns" something is one that acts on a target organ, and the suffix has been used this way in biochemistry since the 20th century, when scientists needed names for hormones that acted on other glands. The "-tropin" ending is not a rare coinage. It follows the pattern of similar hormone names, and its Greek core passed into English through a long chain of Latin and French suffixes before settling into the scientific vocabulary. The hormone was named for its effect on the adrenal cortex, so the whole word reads as "something that turns the adrenal cortex."

Synonyms: adrenocorticotropic hormone, ACTH