Maternal adrenalectomy affects development of adrenal medulla

This work investigates the effects of maternal adrenalectomy (ADX) on the development of the adrenal medulla. Adrenal catecholamines (AC) were measured at postnatal day (PN) 1, 8, 12 and 22 in rat offspring of ADX dams and in pups of control dams. The pups of ADX rats showed a reduction in AC concentrations in the adrenal medulla at PN 1, 12 and 22, although these were higher than in the pups of sham dams at PN 8. Further, in the pups of control mothers, there was an increase in ACs during the first two weeks of life whereas pups of ADX mothers only showed increases in noradrenaline, dopamine and adrenaline levels at day 8. These results suggest that maternal absence of corticosterone affects the medulla catecholamine content during development. These data support the idea that a maternal glucocorticoids are involved in the differentiation or/and maturation of the adrenal medulla.