Journal article

Publication year: 2013

Pages: 356-360

Journal: Hormone Research in Paediatrics

Volume number: 79

Issue number: 6

ISSN: 1663-2818

eISSN: 1663-2826

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1159/000351705

Publisher: Karger Publishers

Abstract: 
Background: Up to now, the regulation of adrenarche remains a myth although ACTH may possibly play an important role. Methods: Urinary steroid profiling by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to study non-invasively the adrenarchal steroid metabolome in 13 children aged 6-16 years with partial or complete hypopituitarism (HP) whose ACTH/cortisol axis was affected and compared it with 24 healthy age-matched controls. The sum of DHEA, 16 alpha-hydroxy-DHEA and 3 beta, 16 alpha, 17 beta-androstenetriol served as markers for adrenarche parameters (AP). The excretion rates of major urinary cortisol metabolites were also determined. Results: The excretion rates for AP were significantly lower for the HP subjects than for the controls (p < 0.001). After dividing the HP group into a subgroup treated with hydrocortisone (HC) and an HC-untreated subgroup, a significant difference for AP remained for each subgroup when compared to the control group (p < 0.001 and p = 0.045, respectively). Treatment with HC had no influence on AP. Conclusion: The data imply indirectly a significant contribution of ACTH to the regulation of adrenarche. Our results also signify important diagnostic information: absent adrenarche can be indicative of ACTH deficiency. Copyright (C) 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel

Harvard Citation style: Boettcher, C., Hartmann, M., de Laffolie, J., Zimmer, K. and Wudy, S. (2013) Absent Adrenarche in Children with Hypopituitarism: A Study Based on Urinary Steroid Metabolomics, Hormone Research in Paediatrics, 79(6), pp. 356-360. https://doi.org/10.1159/000351705

APA Citation style: Boettcher, C., Hartmann, M., de Laffolie, J., Zimmer, K., & Wudy, S. (2013). Absent Adrenarche in Children with Hypopituitarism: A Study Based on Urinary Steroid Metabolomics. Hormone Research in Paediatrics. 79(6), 356-360. https://doi.org/10.1159/000351705