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Adrenarche: Postnatal Adrenal Zonation and Hormonal and Metabolic Regulation

Journal

HORMONE RESEARCH
Volume 70, Issue 5, Pages 257-267

Publisher

KARGER
DOI: 10.1159/000157871

Keywords

Adrenarche, premature; Adrenal cortex-medulla interaction; GH-IGF system; Adrenal androgens; Estrogen receptor

Funding

  1. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET)
  2. Fondo para la Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnologica (FONCYT) of Argentina
  3. Pfizer Endocrine Care

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Adrenarche is the direct consequence of the organogenesis of the zona reticularis (ZR). Proliferation of cortical cells could take place in the outermost layers of the adrenal cortex. Cells could then migrate to differentiate the zona glomerulosa (ZG) and zona fasciculata (ZF) during fetal life, and the ZR during postnatal life. After adrenarche, there are detectable increases in circulating DHEA and DHEA-S. Adrenarche could result from an increase in 17,20-lyase activity of P450c17 secondary to high levels of cytochrome b(5) expression, and from a decrease in 3 beta HSD2 expression along with an increase in the expression of SULT2A1 in the ZR. The GH-IGF system and insulin, among other factors, might also modulate adrenal androgen production. Furthermore, high concentrations of estradiol enhance basal and ACTH-stimulated DHEA-S production, while aromatase expression was observed in the human adrenal medulla but not in the ZR, suggesting that estrogens produced in the adrenal medulla might be involved in the regulation of androgen production in the ZR. Premature adrenarche might be associated with ovarian hyperandrogenism and polycystic ovarian syndrome in females, as well as with insulin resistance in both sexes. However, many questions remain, transforming adrenal androgens into markers of diseases important for human health. Copyright (C) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel

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