Figure 5.

Age-related changes in immunoreactivity per cell of 3ßHSD2, CYPB5, and SULT2A1 in each adrenocortical zone. (a) age-related changes in immunohistochemical staining optical density/cell, (b) immunohistochemistry at 8 to 9 years of age. 3ßHSD2 (left panel) immunoreactivity is strong in the cytoplasm of adrenocortical cells of the z. glomerulosa, the z. fasciculata, and the ZR from age 7 months to 3 years. However, after age 3, 3ßHSD2 expression begins to fall in the ZR, whereas its expression remains relatively constant in the z. glomerulosa and z. fasciculata. 3ßHSD2 immunohistochemical staining at 9 years of age is marked in the z. glomerulosa and fasciculata but is low in ZR. Immunoreactivity of CYB5 (middle panel) is weakly detected in cytoplasm of adrenocortical cells in the z. glomerulosa, z. fasciculata, and ZR from ages 7 months to 3 years; its immunoreactivity becomes more pronounced in the developing z. reticularis thereafter until it reaches a plateau after age 13, while CYB5 immunoreactivity remains relatively low in the other zones. Immunohistochemical staining at 8.4 years was strong in the zona reticularis, relatively weak in the other zones. SULT2A1 (right panel) immunoreactivity followed a similar pattern to CYB5 in the zona fasciculata and zona reticularis but was very low in zona glomerulosa. SULT2A1 immunohistochemical staining at 8.4 years was strong in the ZR. Key: z. glomerulosa, black triangles; z. fasciculata, blue circles; z. reticularis, red squares. Scale bar = 100 μm.

Reprinted from Rainey et al (10) with permission from Elsevier.