Adrenocortical steroids adrenal androgens

By contrast, deficiency of 17-hydroxylase results in impaired ability of the gonads (as well as the adrenals) to synthesize androgens (males) or estrogen (females) patients subsequently manifest with problems typically associated with primary hypogonadism. Deficiency of 17-hydroxylase is similar to that of 11 (3-hydroxylase in that there is adrenal overproduction of min-eralocorticoids, resulting in sodium retention and high blood pressure. Differential diagnosis is usually facilitated by examination of the complete profile of adrenocortical steroid hormones. 

Adrenocortical steroid hormones have a vast array of biological functions. Cortisol, the primary human glucocorticoid, regulates the inflammatory response (Newton and Holden, 2007), carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, and stress response (Kassel and Herrlich, 2007). Aldosterone regulates blood pressure by modulating fluid and electrolyte balance (Brizuela et ah, 2006 Foster, 2004). In the adrenal cortex, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), dehy-droepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), and androstenedione are the androgens produced (Havelock et ah, 2004 Rainey et ah, 2002). 

It has been emphatieally and logieally determined to elassify the steroidal hormone products belonging speeifically to the adrenal cortex (z.e., adrenocortical steroids) into two major groups the corticosteroids (viz., glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoids, which essentially possess 21 C-atoms, and the androgens having 19 C-atoms. 

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