The contribution of capsular and subcapsular progenitor cells in homeostatic adrenal cortex self-renewal and zonal-specific remodelling.

随着年龄的增长，女性更年期的开始，男性40岁以后睾酮分泌的减少，以及大脑中生长激素分泌的减少，这些都是众所周知的影响内分泌系统的生物学变化。肾上腺是位于肾脏顶部的两个小器官。每个腺体的外部部分，称为肾上腺皮质，是生命所必需的，因为它是产生类固醇激素的主要部位。这些类固醇激素影响碳水化合物代谢，控制应激反应，控制血容量和盐平衡，影响血压。随着时间的推移，肾上腺皮质会“自我复制”（一个被称为自我更新的过程），我们在腺体最外层发现的一组细胞（被称为干细胞）负责在我们的一生中产生新的类固醇细胞。尽管肾上腺在人类健康和疾病中起着重要作用，但对其衰老的研究却很少。更不用说，在我们的一生中，干细胞对产生新的激素细胞的贡献是完全未知的。根据这一建议，我们的目标是确定肾上腺干细胞在年轻人和成年人、男性和女性之间制造新的类固醇细胞的能力的差异，特别强调产生激素醛固酮和皮质酮的细胞。

The onset of menopause in women, the decrease in testosterone secretion in men after the age of 40 and the decrease in production of growth hormone from the brain are well-recognised biological changes affecting our endocrine system as we age. The adrenal glands are two small organs located on top of the kidneys. The outer part of each gland, called the adrenal cortex, is essential for life, as it is the main site of production of steroid hormones. These steroid hormones affect carbohydrate metabolism and control the stress response, control blood volume and salt balance, and influence blood pressure.The adrenal cortex "reproduces itself" over time (a process called self-renewal), and a group of cells (called stem cells) which we have identified in the outermost layers of the gland are responsible for generating new steroid-producing cells throughout our lifetime. The aging adrenal is a poorly investigated area, despite the importance of the gland in human health and disease. Even less, the contribution of stem cells to the generation of new hormone-producing cells during our lifetime is entirely unknown. With this proposal we aim at determining differences in the ability of adrenal stem cells to make new steroid-producing cells between young and adults, males and females, with a particular emphasis on cells which produce the hormones aldosterone and corticosterone.