Adrenal Glands

Posted on June 23, 2013 by MaryO

adrenal-glandsAnatomy of the adrenal glands:

Adrenal glands, which are also called suprarenal glands, are small, triangular glands located on top of both kidneys. An adrenal gland is made of two parts: the outer region is called the adrenal cortex and the inner region is called the adrenal medulla.

Function of the adrenal glands:

The adrenal glands work interactively with the hypothalamus and pituitary gland in the following process:

  • the hypothalamus produces corticotropin-releasing hormones, which stimulate the pituitary gland.
  • the pituitary gland, in turn, produces corticotropin hormones, which stimulate the adrenal glands to produce corticosteroid hormones.

Both parts of the adrenal glands — the adrenal cortex and the adrenal medulla — perform very separate functions.

What is the adrenal cortex?

The adrenal cortex, the outer portion of the adrenal gland, secretes hormones that have an effect on the body’s metabolism, on chemicals in the blood, and on certain body characteristics. The adrenal cortex secretes corticosteroids and other hormones directly into the bloodstream. The hormones produced by the adrenal cortex include:

  • corticosteroid hormones
    • hydrocortisone hormone – this hormone, also known as cortisol, controls the body’s use of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates.
    • corticosterone – this hormone, together with hydrocortisone hormones, suppresses inflammatory reactions in the body and also affects the immune system.
  • aldosterone hormone – this hormone inhibits the level of sodium excreted into the urine, maintaining blood volume and blood pressure.
  • androgenic steroids (androgen hormones) – these hormones have minimal effect on the development of male characteristics.

What is the adrenal medulla?

The adrenal medulla, the inner part of the adrenal gland, is not essential to life, but helps a person in coping with physical and emotional stress. The adrenal medulla secretes the following hormones:

  • epinephrine (also called adrenaline) – this hormone increases the heart rate and force of heart contractions, facilitates blood flow to the muscles and brain, causes relaxation of smooth muscles, helps with conversion of glycogen to glucose in the liver, and other activities.
  • norepinephrine (also called noradrenaline) – this hormone has little effect on smooth muscle, metabolic processes, and cardiac output, but has strong vasoconstrictive effects, thus increasing blood pressure.

From: University of Maryland Center for Diabetes and Endocrinology

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From the CushieWiki: Personal Stories

Posted on May 23, 2013 by MaryO

Cushie Warriors

Personal Stories – Autumn

Personal Stories – Deb

Personal Stories – HockeyGirl

Personal Stories – Jessica

Personal Stories – Kate

Personal Stories – MaryO

Personal Stories – Staticnrg

All Personal experiences

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Classifying hypertension

Posted on May 19, 2013 by MaryO

HYPERTENSION is classified into two categories according to its cause: essential and secondary.

The vast majority of patients have essential or primary hypertension, while only about 5-10% of patients have secondary hypertension, which are mainly caused by kidney and hormonal conditions like renal artery stenosis, hyperthyroidism, Cushing’s syndrome, and even pregnancy, among others.

The exact cause of essential hypertension is still unknown, although it is certainly the result of a combination of factors, including increasing age, having relatives with high blood pressure (ie family history), a sedentary lifestyle, a poor diet with too much salt, drinking too much alcohol, smoking and too much stress.

Says Malaysian Society of Hypertension president and Universiti Malaya Department of Primary Care Medicine senior consultant Prof Datin Dr Chia Yook Chin: “Each factor increases blood pressure by just a little, but when you add them all together little by little, it raises it by quite a lot.”

Despite not knowing the root cause of hypertension, it has been established that there is overstimulation of the sympathetic nerves in people with this condition.

This in turn increases the secretion of certain hormones involved in the regulation of sodium and fluids in the body, called renin, angiotensin, and aldosterone.

The amount of salt and water in our body affects our blood pressure – the more salt and water present, the higher our blood pressure.

These two elements are regulated by our kidneys through the three hormones mentioned above, which are produced by the adrenal glands located on top of the kidneys.

The overstimulation of the sympathetic nerves also results in increased vascular tone, which causes our arteries to become constricted, thus, also raising blood pressure.

From The Star

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The Deadline is Friday for Helping Grow the Rare Disease Congressional Caucus

Posted on May 16, 2013 by MaryO

caucus1

Friday, May 17 at 8PM eastern is the deadline for this.

We want to have Caucus Members from all 50 States.

We have 28 to go: AL, AK, AZ, CO, CT, DE, HI, ID, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MS, MO, MT, NV, NH, NM, ND, OK, RI, SC, SD, UT, VT, WI, & WY If you live in one of these states or know someone who does – Please take ACTION today!

 

http://bit.ly/RareAlert

Original post:

Help us strengthen the rare disease community’s voice on Capitol Hill!  Please take 3 minutes to ask your Member of Congress to join the Rare Disease Caucus at http://bit.ly/RareAlert.
It’s easy – the Action Center has a draft letter that will automatically be sent to your Member of Congress – just put in your name and address & click send.  We also encourage you to personalize the letter to share information about your specific disease.  If your Congress Member is already on the Caucus, the letter will automatically populate as a thank you letter instead – these are just as important to send!
It can take up to 10 letters from constituents for a Member to respond so please share this Action Alert with your friends, family & colleagues.  Join our Facebook event & invite your friends:   http://on.fb.me/17Mlpjg
The Rare Disease Congressional Caucus will help bring public and Congressional awareness to the unique needs of the rare disease community – patients, physicians, scientists, and industry, and create opportunities to address roadblocks in access to and development of crucial treatments.  The Caucus will give a permanent voice to the rare disease community on Capitol Hill.  Working together, we can find solutions that turn hope into treatments.
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Diagnostic performance of salivary cortisol in the diagnosis of Cushing’s syndrome, adrenal incidentaloma and adrenal insufficiency

Posted on May 1, 2013 by MaryO

Source

F Ceccato, Department of Medicine – DIMED, University of Padova, Endocrinology Unit, Padova, Italy.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

Salivary cortisol has been recently suggested for studies on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis: lack of circadian rhythm is a marker of Cushing’s syndrome (CS), and some authors report that low salivary cortisol levels may be a marker of adrenal insufficiency. The aim of our study was to define the role of salivary cortisol in specific diagnostic setting of HPA axis disease.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS:

We analyzed morning salivary cortisol (MSC) and late night salivary cortisol (LNSC) in 406 subjects: 52 Cushing’s disease (CD), 13 ectopic-CS, 17 adrenal-CS, 27 CD in remission (mean follow-up of 66 ± 39 months), 45 adrenal incidentalomas, 73 patients assessed of CS and then ruled out for endogenous hypercortisolism, 75 patients with adrenal insufficiency and 104 healthy subjects.

RESULTS:

A LNSC value above 5.24 ng/mL differentiated CS from controls with high sensitivity (96.3%) and specificity (97.1%), we found higher LNSC in ectopic-CS than in CD. We found no difference in MSC and LNSC levels between CD in remission and healthy subjects. Both MSC and LNSC were higher in adrenal incidentaloma than in healthy controls. MSC below 2.65 ng/mL distinguished patients with adrenal insufficiency from controls with high sensitivity (97.1%) and specificity (93.3%).

CONCLUSIONS:

salivary cortisol is a useful tool to assess endogenous cortisol excess or adrenal insufficiency and to evaluate stable CD in remission.

PMID:

 

23610124

 

[PubMed – as supplied by publisher]
From PubMed
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