The investigation was conducted to study the effects of endothelin-1 (ET-1) and endothelin-3 (ET-3) on adrenocorticotropin (ACTH), cortisol and prolactin release in man. The design was a prospective placebo controlled double-blind study, including 7 healthy males studied on three occasions. After infusion of either 20 ng/min x kg ET-1, ET-3 or normal saline, venous blood samples were drawn 12 times for determination of ACTH, cortisol and prolactin during the pre- within- and postinfusion period. ET-1 infusion induced a significant increase of plasma ACTH (p<0.009) and prolactin (p
