Persistence of fetal zone function in the infant rhesus monkey adrenal gland

Plasma dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHAS) concentrations increase markedly in the rhesus monkey fetus at the end of gestation. A further increase occurs in the infant. To determine whether the changes in plasma concentration between the fetus and infant represent maintenance of DHAS production by the infant adrenal gland, we measured the t1/2, distribution volume (VD), MCR, and production rate of DHAS in the late gestation rhesus monkey fetus (129-155 days gestation; term is 165 days) and infant (14-42 days of age). A single bolus dose of [3H]DHAS was injected into five fetuses and four infants, and blood samples were collected serially from 5 min to 24 h after the injection. The amount of [3H]DHAS in the circulation was measured after solvolysis, extraction, and Celite chromatography. The concentration of DHAS in each sample was measured by RIA. DHAS was cleared significantly more rapidly in the fetus than in the infant [MCR in fetus, 2.4 +/- 0.4 (+/- SE); MCR in infant, 0.6 +/- 0.2 liters day-1 kg-1]. The t1/2 of DHAS was shorter in the fetus than in the infant (1.0 +/- 0.1 vs. 3.3 +/- 0.7 h). Absolute VD values were larger in the fetus than in the infant (231 +/- 29 and 143.8 +/- 11.6 ml kg-1); however, they were similar when the fetal VD was calculated including placental weight as a component of fetal weight. The production rate of DHAS, calculated as the product of MCR and integrated plasma DHAS concentration for the duration of the experiment, was not significantly different between the fetus and the infant (1.0 +/- 0.2 and 3.3 +/- 1.2 mg kg-1 day-1) in spite of the marked differences in plasma DHAS concentrations (445.8 +/- 103.8 ng ml-1 in the fetus and 5165 +/- 1296 ng ml-1 in the infant). These results indicate that the adrenal of the infant rhesus monkey continues to secrete DHAS at a rate at least as high as that in the late gestation fetus. Since the infant maintains DHAS production similar to that of the fetus in the absence of the placenta, a corollary of these studies is that the elevated DHAS secretion in the rhesus infant is independent of the placenta or the hormonal milieu of pregnancy. The maintenance of a functional fetal zone in the adrenal gland makes the rhesus infant a suitable model to use in studying the regulation of DHAS secretion and fetal zone morphology.