![]() ![]() Given support for these new directions, considerable progress can clearly be made.Ī classic feature of the mammalian adrenal cortex is its distinct histologic zonation. Such advances in human, primate and indeed stem-cell biology are clearly laying the foundation for new directions in the hunt for the factors involved in the regulation and functional emergence of a ZR at the appropriate time, as well as insight into how they may fail. Furthermore, these reviews describe what is also known of how the functional ZR emerges during adrenarche and what steroids of physiologic relevance result beyond the widely known DHEA and DHEAS elevated at this time. ![]() ![]() The purpose of these three reviews is to provide a survey of where we are in our current understanding of what adrenarche is, and indeed if it is unique to humans at all. Our understanding is limited and more needs to be done. Premature adrenarche is a growing problem and the correspondingly inappropriate emergence of ZR function can negatively influence puberty and lead to adult infertility. Of all the adrenal zones, we still understand control of ZR emergence the least, and yet the consequences of such dysregulation can be devastating. The human adrenal cortex comprises three distinct zones with unique steroid products, namely the zona glomerulosa, which secretes the mineralocorticoids, the zona fasciculate, which secretes the glucocorticoids and the zona reticularis (ZR), which at adrenarche, begins to produce the so-called adrenal androgens. ![]()
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