Endocrine Abstracts

The mouse steroid 21-hydroxylase-A gene promoter (21-OH) directs adrenal cortex-specific expression of the β-galactosidase reporter in 21-OHase/LacZ transgenic mice. Multiple independent 21-OHase/LacZ transgenic lines show a similar mosaic pattern of reporter expression probably reflecting stochastic transgene silencing. In the adult, the mosaic reporter expression occurs as radial stripes spanning the adrenal cortex. A similar radial striped pattern occurs ...

Steroidogenic cells of the adrenal cortex are thought to originate from a peripherally-located self-renewing population of undifferentiated stem or progenitor cells. These cells divide infrequently to give daughters, which proliferate transiently (termed transiently amplifying (TA) cells), migrate and differentiate to replenish the functionally-differentiated zones of the adrenal cortex, or remain in situ as undifferentiated stem cells. Theoretically such stem cells can...