Changes in the Pattern of Androgen Formation in Vitro by the Baboon Fetal Adrenal Gland at Mid- and Late Gestation1

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Abstract
In the present study, baboon fetal adrenal cells were obtained at mid- and late gestation and incubated for various intervals to determine simultaneously the effects of length of incubation and stage of development on the pattern of adrenal steroidogenesis. Cells were treated with adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) from 0 to 48 h of incubation, and the concentrations of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHA), DHA-sulfate (DHAS), and androstenedione (.DELTA.4A) were determined in the medium. The secretion of DHA and DHAS by untreated or ACTH-treated cells of midgestation increased linearly throughout the 48-h incubation period. In fetal adrenal incubates of late gestation, however, DHA and DHAS concentrations peaked at 3 h and declined thereafter, suggesting that the DHA secreted into the medium was further metabolized by this tissue. Baboon fetal adrenal cells formed similar amounts of DHAS and DHA at midgestation, but greater quantities of DHAS were formed at term. In fetal adrenal incubates of midgestation, DHA concentrations exceeded those of .DELTA.4A by threefold, a relationship which was reversed at late gestation, probably due to the increase in the activity of 3.beta.-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase with advancing gestation. Because the decline in DHA with time of incubation was also associated with a concomitant decrease in DHAS and no change in .DELTA.4A, it does not appear that formation of these steroids account for the loss of DHA. We conclude that the pattern of androgen metabolism exhibited by fetal adrenal cells obtained at midgestation is different from that at term. This study illustrates that differences in androgen metabolism by the fetal adrenal gland are apparent only by simultaneously investigating steroidogenesis at two times in gestation and employing multiple times of incubation.

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