Endocrine Abstracts

The adrenal cortex arises from the adrenogonadal primordium, which is also involved in the formation of the gonadal anlagen and is characterized by expression of the nuclear receptor Sf1. After individualisation, the adrenal primordium undergoes a series of developmental events that culminate with establishment of functional zonation, characterised by differentiation of zona glomerulosa and zona fasciculata. In the past 7 years, we have developed a number of mouse models recap...

Primary Bilateral Macronodular Adrenal Hyperplasia (PBMAH) consists of bilateral development of adrenocortical macronodules causing various level of cortisol excess independently of circulating ACTH. It can be diagnosed after investigations of clinical signs of Cushing’s syndrome, but nowadays more often after the investigation of an adrenal incidentaloma in patients with sub-clinical Cushing. Indeed, 10 to 15% of adrenal incidentalomas are bilateral, corresponding mostly...

Macronodular adrenal hyperplasia refers to adrenal enlargement by large nodules that may be related to ACTH-dependent or ACTH-independent pathologies. The term Primary Macronodular Adrenal Hyperplasia (PMAH) was recently introduced to replace the term ACTH-independent macronodular adrenal hyperplasia, since in some cases paracrine ACTH production may contribute to cortisol secretion, and also to encompass cases of unilateral macronodular hyperplasia. PMAH is a heterogeneous di...