Endocrine Abstracts

The adrenal cortex functions to produce steroid hormones that are essential for life and regulate key biological processes, such as control of blood pressure, metabolism, reproduction, stress, and the immune response. In order to achieve both a rapid and precise response, the adrenal cortex employs hormonal feedforward-feedback systems that function in the context of histologically distinct adrenocortical zones. These layers, the outer zona glomerulosa (zG), intermediate zona ...

The adrenal cortex synthesizes glucocorticoids that are essential for metabolic homeostasis and modulation of immune responsiveness. Glucocorticoid-producing cells, located in the zona fasciculata (zF), constitute the critical effector of the HPA axis that serves to mediate the mammalian stress response. Dysregulation of glucocorticoid function results in significant morbidity with complete deficiency being incompatible with life. While the zF is composed of heterogenous cell ...