Plasticity of the zona reticularis in the adult marmoset adrenal cortex: voyages of discovery in the New World

Adrenarche in humans occurs at 5-7 years old, yet the process by which DHEA biosynthesis in the adrenal ZR increases so dramatically remains a matter of debate. One suggestion is that increased DHEA production by P450c17 in the ZR results from a coincident fall in expression of 3BHSD, which would otherwise compete for pregnenolone substrate. Nonetheless, studies of human and rhesus adrenal show that cytb5 expression increases in the ZR with DHEA biosynthesis, and cloned human and rhesus P450c17 show selective increases in 17,20 lyase activity in the presence of cytb5. The marmoset, a New World primate, expresses a fetal zone during development which regresses after birth. Adult males, however, do not develop an obviously functional ZR, while females develop a ZR in a manner that depends on their social/gonadal status. In all social and physiologic states, changes in marmoset ZR function relate directly to changes in the expression of cytb5. Recent cloning and expression of marmoset P450c17 also shows that while amino acid sequence homology is in the order of ~85 % of that found in human and rhesus sequences, and basal lyase activity is low compared to rhesus, all previously described amino acids critical to human 17,20 lyase activity are completel