The adrenal gland produces numerous hormones. Adrenal production of sex hormones are especially important during f tal development to differentiate gender and also as the primary source of strogens and androgens post menopause. The actions of these hormones have been discussed in the previous section. As their classification implies, these hormones are intimately associated with regulating glucose and mineral utilisation respectively. Binding to transcortin is saturable, so that the surge in GC that is seen in stress will often result in a higher percentage of free GC available to act in response to that stress.
Cortisol acts by at least two different mechanisms.
It will combine with a typical cellular steroid receptor to cause increased synthesis of proteins. However, the mechanism of its binding and effect are slightly different than those of the sex hormones or aldosterone. When GC binds to the receptor, the HSP dissociates from the receptor, allowing the GC-R complex to interact with DNA to cause increase transcription, translation, and protein synthesis. This is due to the fact that many of the effects of GC occur too rapidly to be the result of protein synthesis. Cortisol does not cause the adrenergic action but it does enhance it.