Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the mechanism of action of adrenocorticotropic
hormone (ACTH). The hormone stimulates steroidogenesis by a mechanism involving the
synthesis of a protein with a rapid rate of turnover; the level of the protein then determines
the rate of steroidogenesis. The experiments described in the chapter show that the
inhibition of ACTH action by cycloheximide does not involve the inhibition of a step in the
pathway prior to cholesterol but indicates that the antibiotic blocks steroidogenesis by …