title: A morphometric study of the adrenal cortex of the female DDD mouse.
abstract: The aim of this study was to determine whether the thickness of the adrenocortical zone is associated with age in virgin and parous female DDD mice. The zona reticularis and zona glomerulosa of parous mice tended to be thicker than those of virgin mice at all ages. The zona fasciculata lactating parous mice was significantly thicker than that of virgin mice at 20 weeks of age (P<0.01). Age did not affect the thickness of the three outer adrenocortical zones in either group. However, in virgin mice, the X zone consisted of vacuolated and nonvacuolated cells at 5 weeks of age and only of vacuolated cells at 10 weeks of age; the number of vacuolated cells and the thickness of the zone decreased at 40 weeks of age. In contrast, parous mice of all ages lacked an X zone. The decrease in X zone thickness with age was most evident when expressed relative to organ weight. In conclusion, the thickness of the outer three adrenocortical zones is affected by endocrine changes associated with pregnancy and lactation but not by age. The thickness of the X zone is an index of growth and maturation in nulliparous female DDD mice less than one year of age.
authors.affiliation: Animal Facility for Aging Research (AFAR), National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology (NCGG), Obu, Aichi, Japan.
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsujio
authors.forename: Toshihiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mizorogi
authors.forename: Kazutoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nishijima
authors.forename: Sachi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kuwahara
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Aoyama
authors.forename: Tamio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohno
authors.forename: Shin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanaka
mesh_terms: D000302:Adrenal Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001837:Body Weights and Measures; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004298:Dopamine / Q000235:genetics; D050483:Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D007774:Lactation / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D010298:Parity; D011247:Pregnancy
chemical_list: D050483:Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; D004298:Dopamine