Urine production after birth

X-linked nephrogenic diabetes insipidus (NDI) is caused by mutations in the gene for the vasopressin V2 receptor leading to an insensitivity of the kidney for the antidiuretic hormone arginine vasopressin (AVP). The main symptom of the disease is diuresis, i.e., the production of a large amount of diluted urine. Due to the massive loss of water, the patients suffer from thirst and are in danger of dehydration. The disease usually becomes evident shortly after birth. 

The adrenal gland is relatively 10-20 times larger than that in the adult and is mainly composed of the fetal zone. After birth involution commences and by day 28 of life the size has decreased by between four-fifths and nine-tenths (P13, Tl). It would not be expected that such a large amount of highly productive tissue would cease activity immediately after birth, and in fact production of steroids of the pattern found in the fetus does not cease until after the sixth month of life (R3, R6, Fig. 7). The concentration of the 3/3-hydroxy-A steroids in urine (Fig. 7) and blood (E4) and of the 17-OS in blood (E4), appears roughly to parallel the involution of the fetal zone of the adrenal (E4). 

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