William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London EC1M 6BQ, United Kingdom.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Dec 15;106(50):21185-90. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0909471106. Epub 2009 Dec 1.
The adrenal cortex is a critical steroidogenic endocrine tissue, generated at least in part from the coelomic epithelium of the urogenital ridge. Neither the intercellular signals that regulate cortical development and maintenance nor the lineage relationships within the adrenal are well defined. We have explored adrenal Shh activity and found that Shh is expressed in relatively undifferentiated steroidogenic cells, which signal to the overlying capsule and subjacent nonsteroidogenic mesenchyme cells that we also find are progenitors of steroidogenic lineages. Shh-expressing cells also generate all steroidogenic cell types, but not nonsteroidogenic ones. Shh mutant adrenals have a thin capsule and small cortex. Our findings both support a novel dual lineage, Shh-independent and Shh-dependent, model of adrenocortical development, and identify distinct populations of adrenocortical progenitor and candidate stem cells.
肾上腺皮质是一种重要的甾体生成内分泌组织，至少部分来源于尿生殖嵴的体腔上皮。调节皮质发育和维持的细胞间信号以及肾上腺内的谱系关系都尚未明确。我们已经研究了肾上腺 Shh 活性，发现 Shh 在相对未分化的甾体生成细胞中表达，这些细胞向覆盖的包膜和下方的非甾体生成间充质细胞发出信号，我们还发现这些细胞也是甾体生成谱系的祖细胞。Shh 表达细胞也产生所有甾体生成细胞类型，但不产生非甾体生成细胞类型。Shh 突变的肾上腺有一个薄的包膜和小的皮质。我们的研究结果既支持了一个新的双重谱系（Shh 非依赖性和 Shh 依赖性）的肾上腺皮质发育模型，又确定了肾上腺皮质祖细胞和候选干细胞的不同群体。
