Human fetal adrenal cells retain age‐related stem‐ and endocrine‐differentiation potential in culture

What is it about?

Embryonic development and neonatal remodeling of the adrenal gland is pivotal for homeostasis, due to the catecholamine and steroid production from the two specialized adrenal components, the cortex and medulla. The current knowledge of adrenal development/remodeling in the pathophysiology is limited to animal models, as human data are merely descriptive and lack of functional information. This is the first study aimed to develop and characterize a unique in vitro human fetal cell model representative of all the adrenal gland components. We isolated a complex cell model from human fetal adrenals, consisting of both neuroendocrine and steroid-secreting cells, which also displays an incredible stem potential being able to form 3D-structures that recapitulate the fetal adrenal organization. This unique model may enable to elucidate the molecular mechanisms and crosstalk factors orchestrating the correct development of the adrenal and the alterations characterizing functional diseases and cancer. Isolation and culturing the stem cell components of human fetal adrenal will eanble to elucidate the mechanisms of its correct development and would be pivotal to understand the molecular basis of its functional disorders and tumors, enabling to develop target therapeutic strategies.

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