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Dexamethasone is a drug used to suppress the secretion of adrenocorticotropic hormone (acth) from the anterior pituitary. two patients with hypersecretion of cortisol are given dexamethasone. patient a‘s cortisol secretion falls to a normal level, but patient b's cortisol levels remain high. what is wrong with patient b's endocrine signaling system? relate this human condition to the insect hormone system we discussed in lecture. is patient b's condition similar to the insect system in any way?

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Erudite1
Patient A is suffering from ACTH hyper secretion, which occur as a result of excessive secretion of cortisol. That is why, the drug dexamethasone was able to effectively suppress the overproduction of the hormone. For the second patient, the patient is not suffering primarily from ACTH hyper secretion, that is why the production of ACTH remain high. The problem probably lies in the signalling pathway, which did not sense the presence of the suppressor drug.