[Development and regression of the fetal adrenal cortex]

The adrenal glands from a series of 300 fetuses and infants which had died in the Hospital Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Paris, were dissected, weighed and processed for routine histology. The development of the fetal cortex and its regression have been compared to the general development of the gland. Our results show that there is an important development of the fetal cortex up to birth, when the adrenal glands represent almost one third of the size of the kidneys and possess only very reduced permanent cortex and practically no medulla. The regression of the fetal cortex in the postnatal period is marked by a decrease in weight of the adrenal glands up to the 2nd or 3rd month, by the persistence of a few dispersed cells up to the fifth month and by the persistence of a few fibrous elements up to 2 years of age.