Maturational changes in steroidogenesis in the inner and outer zones of the guinea pig adrenal cortex

Studies were done to determine the effects of age on steroidogenesis in the inner (zona reticularis) and outer (zona fasciculata plus glomerulosa) zones of the guinea pig adrenal cortex. In 35-day-old animals, cortisol production by adrenal outer zone cells was approximately twice as great as that by inner zone cells. With aging, cortisol secretion by inner zone cells decreased to very low levels, but there was no detectable change in the capacity for cortisol production by the outer zone. However, the outer zone comprised a progressively decreasing fraction of the total adrenal mass in older animals. To determine the basis for the decline in cortisol production by inner zone cells with aging, the activities of several steroidogenic enzymes were determined. Microsomal 21-hydroxylase activity was greater in the inner than outer zone but was not significantly affected by age. By contrast, 17 alpha-hydroxylase activity was greater in the outer zone at all ages, and decreased with aging in the inner but not the outer zone. Mitochondrial cholesterol sidechain cleavage and 11 beta-hydroxylase activities were also higher in the outer than inner zone and declined in the inner zone only in older animals. The decrease in inner zone cholesterol sidechain cleavage activity with aging was proportionately greater than the age-dependent changes in other enzyme activities. The results indicate that the effects of aging on steroidogenesis are both zone- and enzyme-specific. The overall decline in cortisol secretion by the guinea pig adrenal cortex with aging is attributable to both a decrease in cortisol production by the cells of the zone reticularis and a disproportionate increase in the mass of the gland comprised by this zone. The decrease in cortisol secretion correlates closely with a decline in cholesterol sidechain cleavage activity in the zona reticularis, and may be causally related.