Adrenarche: Changing Adrenal Response to Adrenocorticotropin*

Rich, Barry H.; Rosenfield, Robert L.; Lucky, Anne W.; Helke, James; Otto, Patricia S.

doi:10.1210/jcem-52-6-1129

Cited by 162 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 47 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…However, during maturation adrenache precedes gonadarche. Adrenache is associated with growth of the zona reticularis of the adrenals (55) and a possible increased response to ACTH (56) and is perhaps controlled by a CNS-peptide other than ACTH (57).…”

Section: Age In 'Cmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age, environmental factors and prostatic cancer

Hill¹,

Garbaczewski²,

Walker

1984

Medical Hypotheses

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although prostatic cancer is evident late in life, pathological evidence suggests this disease is initiated earlier in life. As prostatic cancer is an endocrine associated disease and as adult hormone profiles are established during puberty, it was of interest whether difference in pubertal hormone levels occurred in populations at low or high risk for prostatic cancer. Accordingly we have investigated the hormone profiles in rural Black South African and urban white boys during puberty. It has been suggested that the timing of puberty is modified by environmental factors and that there is a concomitant control of gonadotrophin release and food intake by CNS-peptide hormones. It is therefore postulated that dietary factors during puberty modify the gut-CNS peptide hormones which in turn control the hypothalamic-pituitarytesticular axis. Distinct difference in plasma androgen and gonadotrophins between the two races are in part concordant with a modification of CNS-peptide hormones by environmental factors during puberty.

show abstract

Section: Age In 'Cmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age, environmental factors and prostatic cancer

Hill¹,

Garbaczewski²,

Walker

1984

Medical Hypotheses

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Preceding puberty in man, the adrenal gland secretes increasing amounts of androgens, particularly dehydroepiandrosterone and its sulfate (Rosenfield & Eberlein 1969, Hopper & Yen 1975, Lee & Migeon 1975, Sizonenko & Paunier 1975, de Peretti & Forest 1976, Ducharme et al 1976, Korth-Schutz et al 1976, Reiter et al 1977, Genazzani et al 1978, Grumbach et al 1978, Parker et al 1978, Parker 1991, Parker & Odell 1980, Pintor et al 1980, Rich et al 1981, Smail et al 1982, Perez-Fernandez et al 1987. At the same time, a new cortical zone develops, the zona reticularis, which is often held to be responsible for the secretion of such C 19 steroids.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adrenarche in the rat

Pignatelli

Xiao

Gouveia

et al. 2006

Journal of Endocrinology

119

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Normal pubertal development in humans involves two distinct processes: maturation of adrenal androgen secretion (adrenarche) and activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis (gonadarche). One factor thought to contribute to the adrenarche in man is increased adrenal 17-hydroxylase (CYP17) activity. In the rat, there is evidence for adrenal involvement in the initiation of puberty, but the adrenal glands of this species are generally thought to express CYP17 only very poorly at best. To further examine the nature of postnatal adrenal development in rat, plasma samples and adrenal tissues were taken from animals aged 2-90 days, circulating adrenal steroids assayed, and adrenal zones assessed quantitatively. A relative increase in zona reticularis, and peaks of circulating cortisol, androstenedione, and 17-OH-progesterone were observed around postnatal days 16-20, clearly before the development of the gonads, which begins at 30-35 days. Quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR confirmed a peak in mRNA coding for CYP17 in adrenal tissue from rats of similar age. The results suggest that the rat adrenal has the capacity to secrete steroids arising from 17-hydroxylation, and that this may contribute to a process similar to human adrenarche.

show abstract

“…Dissociation between the rate of secretion of adrenal androgens and glucocor- ticoids has been observed in various pathologic (7,29) and experimental (20) conditions, as well as during normal development (21,23,28). In fact, increase of the DHEAS/cortisol ratio is the hallmark of adrenarche in normal children (22,32). These observations have led to the hypothesis that adrenal androgens may be controlled by another pituitary hormone in addition to ACTH (12,20,30).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is conceivable that this putative adrenal androgenstimulating hormone is suppressed more readily than ACTH by exogenous cortisol in patients treated for CAH, resulting in a far greater decrease in serum levels of DHEAS than of 17-OHP. The existence of such a hormone, however, has been challenged and alternative explanations have been suggested (2,22).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disproportionate Supression of Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate (DHEAS) in Treated Patients with Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia due to 21-Hydroxylase Deficiency

et al. 1983

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

SummarySerum concentrations of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) were measured in 28 patients (18 females, 10 males) with congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency who were treated with oral hydrocortisone (non-salt losers) or hydrocortisone and 9-a-fluorohydrocortisone (salt-losers). Adequacy of therapy was assessed by clinical findings, determination of bone age, urinary excretion of 17-ketosteroids, and serum concentration of 17-hydroxyprogesterone. These allowed the separation of patients into three groups: poorly controlled, adequately controlled and overtreated. Individual values for serum levels of DHEAS were compared to mean normal values for age. In the adequately controlled and overtreated patients, mean serum concentrations of DHEAS were significantly lower than normal values for age ( P < 0.05). In the poorly treated patients, the mean serum concentration of DHEAS was not significantly different from normal values for age ( P = 0.50).These data indicate that the serum concentration of DHEAS is overly suppressed in treated patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency. This finding suggests that measurement of the serum levels of DHEAS has limited value in assessing the adequacy of therapy in this disease. Abbreviations CAH, congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency DHEAS, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate 17-OHP, 17-hydroxyprogesterone SDS, standard deviation score A major goal in long term management of patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency (CAH) is to suppress the effects of excessive adrenal androgens. The adequacy of suppression has been traditionally monitored by periodic measurement of 24-h urinary excretion of 17-ketosteroids and pregnanetriol. The reliability of these assays, however, is hampered by inaccuracies in collection of 24-h urine specimens. A suitable compound that can be measured in blood, therefore, has been searched for by several investigators. Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), the most abundant adrenal androgen, seems to be a likely candidate for this purpose because it is almost exclusively synthesized by the adrenal glands (17,19). Moreover, as DHEAS has a long half-life (24, 26), its concentration in serum is less susceptible to diurnal variations (25).Recent studies have demonstrated that serum levels of DHEAS are increased in patients with untreated CAH (1 1, 15,23); however, data on the serum concentration of the hormone during therapy are very limited. Serum levels of DHEAS did not increase in six patients with CAH when therapy was discontinued for 3 days (33). Golden et al. (1 1) found elevated levels of serum DHEAS in patients with CAH only when they were overtly undertreated, but values for serum levels of DHEAS were not correlated with the age of the patients. Because secretion of DHEAS is age dependent (8,15,23), its role in the management of patients with CAH cannot be quantitated unless appropriate age-matched control values are applied. The ...

show abstract

Adrenarche: Changing Adrenal Response to Adrenocorticotropin*

Cited by 162 publications

References 47 publications

Age, environmental factors and prostatic cancer

Age, environmental factors and prostatic cancer

Adrenarche in the rat

Disproportionate Supression of Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate (DHEAS) in Treated Patients with Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia due to 21-Hydroxylase Deficiency

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About