| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Submitted on August 9, 2004
Accepted on January 17, 2005
Department of Nutrition and Health, Research Institute of Child Nutrition, Dortmund, Germany (T.R., K.R.B.), Steroid Research Unit, Center of Child and Adolescent Medicine, Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, Germany (M.F. H., S.A.W.)
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: remer{at}fke-do.de.
Information on the urinary excretion of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and its direct metabolites is scarce for healthy subjects during growth. We used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry urinary steroid profiling to non-invasively study the adrenarchal metabolome in 400 healthy subjects aged 3-18 yr. Urinary 24-h excretion rates of DHEA did not increase significantly before age 7-8 yr. However, DHEA together with its 16
-hydroxylated downstream metabolites 16-hydroxy-DHEA and 3
,16,17-androstenetriol (DHEA&M) as well as the DHEA metabolite 5-androstene-3,17-diol (ADIOL) and the sum of major urinary androgen metabolites (C19) rose consistently from the youngest to the oldest age group. The significant increases (P < 0.01) observed for 24-h excretion rates of C19, ADIOL, and DHEA&M were 2 to 4-fold in boys and girls between age 3 yr and 8 yr. DHEA&M, for example, rose from about 20 µg/d to 80 µg/d (P < 0.0001) during this period. Until the age of 16 yr, DHEA&M excretion further increased to nearly 1000 µg/d. Also patterns of steroidogenic enzyme activities were assessed (from definite ratios of urinary steroid metabolites) for 21-hydroxylase, 3-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, 17-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, and 5-reductase.
Our results indicate for healthy boys and girls that adrenarche is a gradual process starting much earlier than hitherto believed. Efficient metabolism of DHEA, especially to 16-hydroxylated steroids, may explain the almost constant levels seen for this steroid until age 7-8 yr. The established reference values for DHEA, DHEA&M, ADIOL, C19 (including androsterone and etiocholanolone), and urinary parameters of steroidogenic enzyme activities could be useful to identify nutritional, environmental, and pathophysiological interrelations with the progressive maturational process of adrenarche. Our data may be also used as reference data for the diagnosis of steroid-related disorders.
This article has been cited by other articles:
 |
|
 |
|
  A. D Nguyen, S. M Mapes, C J. Corbin, and A. J Conley Morphological adrenarche in rhesus macaques: development of the zona reticularis is concurrent with fetal zone regression in the early neonatal period J. Endocrinol., December 1, 2008; 199(3): 367 - 378. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K. Mai, T. Bobbert, F. Reinecke, J. Andres, C. Maser-Gluth, S. A. Wudy, M. Mohlig, M. O. Weickert, M. F. Hartmann, H. M. Schulte, et al. Intravenous Lipid and Heparin Infusion-Induced Elevation in Free Fatty Acids and Triglycerides Modifies Circulating Androgen Levels in Women: A Randomized, Controlled Trial J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab., October 1, 2008; 93(10): 3900 - 3906. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
E. Hershkovitz, R. Parvari, S. A. Wudy, M. F. Hartmann, L. G. Gomes, N. Loewental, and W. L. Miller Homozygous Mutation G539R in the Gene for P450 Oxidoreductase in a Family Previously Diagnosed as Having 17,20-Lyase Deficiency J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab., September 1, 2008; 93(9): 3584 - 3588. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 D. Tiosano, C. Knopf, I. Koren, N. Levanon, M. F Hartmann, Z. Hochberg, and S. A Wudy Metabolic evidence for impaired 17{alpha}-hydroxylase activity in a kindred bearing the E305G mutation for isolate 17,20-lyase activity Eur. J. Endocrinol., March 1, 2008; 158(3): 385 - 392. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 T. Remer Dietary calcium, the 16{alpha}-hydroxyl metabolic pathway of steroids, and sex hormones in blood and urine Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, January 1, 2008; 87(1): 192 - 193. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. A. Wudy, M. F. Hartmann, and T. Remer Sexual dimorphism in cortisol secretion starts after age 10 in healthy children: urinary cortisol metabolite excretion rates during growth Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab, October 1, 2007; 293(4): E970 - E976. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. Wiegand, A. Richardt, T. Remer, S. A Wudy, J. W Tomlinson, B. Hughes, A. Gruters, P. M Stewart, C. J Strasburger, and M. Quinkler Reduced 11{beta}-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 activity in obese boys Eur. J. Endocrinol., September 1, 2007; 157(3): 319 - 324. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH |
| Endocrinology | Endocrine Reviews | J. Clin. End. & Metab. |
| Molecular Endocrinology | Recent Prog. Horm. Res. | All Endocrine Journals |
