POMC and Sepsis: In a subsequent study in sepsis-induced critically ill mice, we demonstrated that early continuous infusion of stress doses of hydrocortisone (1.2 mg/day, ~200–300 mg/day human equivalent (2)) resulted in further suppression of plasma ACTH concentrations after 7 days of critical illness as compared with infusion of placebo (3), without affecting plasma POMC concentrations.