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Primary Culture of Rat Adrenocortical Cells and Assays of Steroidogenic Functions
Published on: March 12, 2019
Neglected issues concerning teaching human adrenal steroidogenesis in popular biochemistry textbooks
1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC, 20037.
Abstract:
In the human body, the adrenal steroids collectively regulate a plethora of fundamental functions, including electrolyte and water balance, blood pressure, stress response, intermediary metabolism, inflammation, and immunity. Therefore, adrenal steroidogenesis is an important biochemistry topic for students to learn in order for them to understand health consequences caused by deficiencies of enzymes in the adrenal steroidogenic pathways. However, popular biochemistry textbooks contain insufficient information and may sometimes give students a misimpression about certain aspects of human adrenal steroidogenesis. This article highlights two neglected issues in teaching human adrenal steroidogenesis in popular biochemistry textbooks. The purpose of this article is to draw attention to these issues. © 2017 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 45(6):469-474, 2017.
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