[Features of the adrenal cortex function in patients with hyperandrogenism of various etiology]

ACTH, prolactin, hydrocortisone, 17 OH-progesterone, androstenedione, dehydroepiandrosterone C, and testosterone were measured in the blood of 36 androgenic women and 8 healthy ones before and after adrenal stimulation. The findings evidence that various mechanisms are responsible for the development of androgynism of an adrenal origin. In patients with congenital virilizing adrenocortical hyperplasia and 21 hydroxylase deficiency excessive androgen production results mainly from activation of delta-4 route of androgen synthesis; in patients with adrenal androgynism and insufficiency of enzymic systems of steroidogenesis the androgen production is explained by functional hyperactivity of the bundle and retinal zones of the adrenal cortex and hyperreactivity to stimulating factors. Hyperproduction of androgens is related to ovarian hyperproduction of not only androstenedione and testosterone, but, in some patients, of dehydroepiandrosterone C as well. Elevated basal blood level of this enzyme cannot be regarded as a sufficiently reliable criterion in the differential diagnosis of the adrenal or ovarian origin of androgynism.