Two cases of corticosterone-secreting adrenal adenomata are reported. Both patients were middle-aged females in whom the clinical course spanned several years before the diagnosis was made. Severe hypertension and recurrent hypokalaemia refractory to standard treatments were outstanding features. The importance of measuring the production rates of all mineralocorticoids when a tumour is suspected is emphasized by Case 1 where the production rate of corticosterone alone was elevated. Bilateral renal artery stenosis was responsible for unsuppressed plasma renin activity in Case 2.
The metabolism of [7\g=a\-3H]pregnenolone and [4-14C]dehydroepiandrosterone (DHA) by a Sertoli cell tumour of the testis from a dog with signs of feminization has been studied in vitro and compared with the metabolism of the normal canine testis.The tumour formed oestrone and oestradiol-17\g=b\ from DHA thus providing direct evidence for the synthesis of oestrogen by this type of neoplasm.Relative or complete inactivity of several enzyme systems involved in the synthesis of testosterone was found in the tumour tissue, and the conversion of either precursor to testosterone was considerably less than in the normal testis.Suggestive evidence is presented for the occurrence of steroid-specific 17\g=a\-hydroxylase and 3\g=b\-hydroxysteroiddehydrogenase-isomerase systems in canine testicular tissue.The formation of sulphates of pregnenolone and DHA was shown both in normal and in neoplastic tissues and, in addition, the tumour either formed the sulphate of 17\g=a\-hydroxypregnenolone or caused the 17\g=a\-hydroxylation of pregnenolone sulphate.
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