Aims Mutations in Steroidogenic Acute Regulatory protein (StAR) cause congenital lipoid adrenal hyperplasia (lipoid CAH), characterized by absent steroidogenesis, potentially lethal salt loss, 46,XY sex reversal and massively enlarged adrenals engorged with cholesterol esters. Nonclassic lipoid CAH is a recently recognized disorder caused by StAR mutations that retain partial function. We aim t...

Liver X receptors (LXRs) broadly limit cholesterol accumulation by regulating expression of genes involved in cholesterol efflux and storage. In this issue of the JCI, Cummins et al. report that LXRalpha is involved in similar regulation in the adrenal cortex, but it also substantially modulates glucocorticoid synthesis (see the related article beginning on page 1902). LXRalpha deletion in mice...

Numerous recent reports have demonstrated effects of estrogenic chemicals on reproductive physiology of fish. However, there is little information available on the regulation of ovarian steroidogenesis by physiological levels of endogenous steroids in teleosts. Therefore, we analyzed the levels of mRNAs encoding steroidogenic proteins in ovaries of E2-treated rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss)....

The adaptive responses to hypoxia are mediated by hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF1α). Its role, however, in regulating steroidogenesis remains poorly understood. We examined the role of hypoxia and HIF1α in regulating steroid acute regulatory protein (STAR) expression and steroidogenesis in immortalized (KK1) mouse granulosa cells under progressively lowering O2 concentrations (20%, 15%, ...

To gain insight into the molecular mechanism of hyper-glucocorticoidism in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), this study investigated the expression of genes related to glucocorticoid synthesis, melanocortin 2 receptor (MC2R), steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR), cytochrome P450 side chain cleavage enzyme (P450scc) and 11β-hydroxylase (P450c11), and the transcription factors of st...

Abstract Abnormalities in adrenal and/or ovarian steroidogenesis are found in most patients with hirsutism. The rate-limiting step in the synthesis of steroids in the ovary and the adrenal is the conversion of cholesterol into pregnenolone by cholesterol side-chain cleavage enzyme (P450scc), encoded by the gene CYP11A, after cholesterol is introduced into the mitochondria by the steroidogenic a...

objective: the role of wnt signaling and its antagonist; secreted frizzled related protein type 4 (sfpr4) was reported in rodent ovarian follicular development. this study examines immunolocalization of sfrp4 in ovaries of polycystic ovary (pco) rat model and evaluates its role in follicular growth arrest and its premature differentiation. materials and mathods: pco was induced with daily admin...

The steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR) is a vital mitochondrial protein that is indispensable for the synthesis of steroid hormones in the steroidogenic cells of the adrenal cortex and the gonads. Recent studies have shown that StAR enhances the conversion of the substrate for all steroid hormones, cholesterol, into pregnenolone, probably by facilitating cholesterol entry into the in...