The human adrenal cortex has a complex vasculature that is essential for growth, organ maintenance, and access of secreted hormones to the circulation. Growth and function of the adrenal cortex are regulated by corticotropin (ACTH), the actions of which are in part mediated by locally produced growth factors. As cortical growth and vascularization must increase in a coordinated manner, we hypot...

Steroid hormone biosynthesis by the fetal adrenal gland is crucial to the integrity and continuation of pregnancy, growth of the fetal and maternal tissues, as well as perinatal homeostatic adaptation for extrauterine survival. The adrenal cortex in the primate undergoes a remarkable morphological and functional remodeling such that the fetal adrenal cortex transforms into an adult adrenal cort...

The adrenal gland comprises the cortex, responsible for the production of steroid hormones, and the medulla, producing the catecholamines norepinephrine and epinephrine. Both of these components can show hyperplastic and neoplastic change. This presentation will outline relevant aspects of normal structure and function. Then, with respect to the adrenal cortex, the various types of hyperplasia ...

Pituitary, adrenal, and pancreatic functions were investigated in 9 patients with thalassaemia major. 9 a.m. plasma ACTH values were 148-480 pg/ml (normal range 15-70 pg/ml). Cortisol and growth hormone response to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia was normal in all. 24-hour urinary excretions of 17-ketosteroids and 17-hydroxycorticosteroids were normal. There was normal cortisol response to intram...

MicoRNAs (miRNAs), usually as gene regulators, participate in various biological processes, including stress responses. The hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis) is an important pathway in regulating stress response. Although the mechanism that HPA axis regulates stress response has been basically revealed, the knowledge that miRNAs regulate stress response within HPA axis, still remai...

BACKGROUND Sex steroid hormone receptors have been identified in the adrenal gland of rat, sheep and rhesus monkey, indicating a direct effect of sex steroids on adrenal gland function. METHODS In the present study, immunohistochemistry using two different mouse monoclonal antibodies was employed to determine the presence of oestrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) and progesterone receptor (PR) in...