Singh Rh

A study of cortisol and certain metabolites in some chronic stress-disorders

Present study, involved two groups of chronic stress disorders, e.g. bronchial asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. Clinical investigations were launched on the blood samples of human subjects in which the levels of plasma cortisol, blood glucose, total plasma protein and serum cholesterol were assayed in diseased and normal control subjects. Observations in-vitro exhibited a notable change in the levels of all the biochemical parameters in patients of chronic disorders with respect to those of normal controls. The biochemical changes in asthmatics were comparatively more pronounced than those of rheumatoid arthritis patients. It reveals that bronchial asthma is an acute and early onset disorder because with chronicity of stressful events, there is a decline in stress response since hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is not so competent to undergo major remodelling of its circuitry necessary for homeostatic maintanence.