pathological roles in the liver, brain, muscle, bone, and adipose tissue ( Tomlinson et al . 2004 , Cooper & Stewart 2009 ). Recently, 11β-HSD expression and activity were also characterized in human and rodent skin ( Tiganescu et al . 2011 ), a tissue in
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Ana Tiganescu, Melanie Hupe, Yoshikazu Uchida, Theodora Mauro, Peter M Elias, and Walter M Holleran
Rita E Roberts, Jacqueline Cavalcante-Silva, Rhonda D Kineman, and Timothy J Koh
). IGF-1 protein levels are increased in skin wounds compared to normal skin, but wound IGF-1 levels are reduced in diabetic mice and humans ( Brown et al. 1997 , Blakytny & Jude 2006 , Mirza et al. 2013 ). Unlike other growth factors involved in
Jui-Cheng Hsieh, Rudolf C Estess, Ichiro Kaneko, G Kerr Whitfield, Peter W Jurutka, and Mark R Haussler
hybridization analysis in mice ( Cachon-Gonzalez et al . 1999 ), is chiefly expressed in skin, cartilage, retina, inner ear, brain, colon, and oral/tongue/nasal/bladder/urethral epithelia. Loss-of-function mutations in the human HR gene cause atrichia with
V L Clifton, R Crompton, M A Read, P G Gibson, R Smith, and I M R Wright
, the sex-specific mechanisms contributing to these differences are complex and not fully understood. The human skin circulation has been used as a non-invasive model for the examination of peripheral vascular function ( Kubli et al. 2000 ). Studies in
Akiko Komi-Kuramochi, Mitsuko Kawano, Yuko Oda, Masahiro Asada, Masashi Suzuki, Junko Oki, and Toru Imamura
(or KGF2), and possibly FGF22 act in concert via FGF receptor 2 IIIb (FGFR2 IIIb) to stimulate keratinocyte proliferation in both normal and wounded skin ( Werner et al. 1994 , Marchese et al. 1995 , Igarashi et al. 1998 , Ohuchi et al. 2000
J. L. BURTON, C. JOHNSON, L. LIBMAN, and S. SHUSTER
SUMMARY
Thirteen hirsute women were studied and found to have significantly increased mean rates of sweat and sebum excretion and plasma testosterone concentration compared with control women. These same patients had previously been shown to have an increased total skin collagen content. These findings suggest that the whole skin is virilized in hirsutism. This may be the result of cutaneous androgen synthesis.
FRÉDÉRIQUE KUTTENN, IRÉNE MOWSZOWICZ, GILBERT SCHAISON, and PIERRE MAUVAIS-JARVIS
The concentrations of testosterone, androstenedione and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) in the plasma and 5α-androstane-3α,17β-diol (androstanediol) in the urine were measured in 40 women with hirsutism of ovarian, adrenal and idiopathic origin. Conversion of [3H]testosterone to DHT, 3α- and 3β-androstanediols was also studied in homogenates of pubic skin obtained from 15 of the patients. Results were compared with values obtained from normal men and women.
Values for the levels of testosterone, DHT and androstenedione in the plasma and androstanediol in the urine of hirsute women were all above control levels, especially for plasma androstenedione and urinary androstanediol (P < 0·001). This finding was particularly marked in patients with hirsutism of ovarian origin. Conversion of [3H]testosterone to 5α-reduced metabolites by homogenates of skin obtained from hirsute women was significantly greater than by homogenates of skin from normal women (P < 0·001) but was the same as the value for normal men. The highest values for conversion were obtained from the patients with idiopathic hirsutism.
These results indicate that androstenedione is the principal androgen secreted in hirsutism. In sexual skin this steroid may be converted to DHT and 3α-, and 3β-androstanediols and the increased activity of testosterone 5α-reductase may result in an exaggerated 'utilization' of androstenedione in this tissue. The high rate of excretion of androstanediol in the urine of patients with idiopathic hirsutism may be explained by the fact that this steroid is an end-product of testosterone metabolism.
K. D. BINGHAM and D. A. SHAW
SUMMARY
[4-14C]Testosterone was incubated with human male scalp skin and the metabolites identified as 5α-androstane-3α, 17β-diol, androsterone, epiandrosterone, dihydrotestosterone, androstenedione and androstanedione. A metabolite not previously reported from incubations of human skin with androgens was isolated and is probably a steroid ester.
One bald and one hairy scalp biopsy specimen from each of five subjects were incubated with [4-14C]testosterone for 1 h and the radioactivity of each metabolite was measured after separation by thin-layer chromatography. Both the uptake and metabolism of testosterone were greater in bald skin than in hairy skin. Little difference in the percentage of each metabolite in the total metabolite pool was found between bald and hairy skin from the same subject and skin from different subjects. This demonstrated that male pattern baldness was not accompanied by gross changes in testosterone metabolism. The main finding was that bald skin contained increased amounts of 5α-reduced metabolites.
L Marenah, P R Flatt, D F Orr, C Shaw, and Y H A Abdel-Wahab
Introduction The granular glands of amphibians are known to release a broad spectrum of peptides with diverse biological activities. Skin secretions are released upon stress or injury as a result of contraction of mycocytes
F. SHARP, J. B. HAY, and M. B. HODGINS
SUMMARY
Fresh scalp, genital, chest and axillary skin from human foetuses of 12–41 weeks' maturity was incubated in Krebs' improved Ringer I medium with [7α-3H]dehydroepiandrosterone, [7α-3H]testosterone and [7α-3H]androstenedione. The metabolites identified were androstenedione, 5α-androstane-3,17-dione, androsterone, 3-epiandrosterone, 5α-dihydrotestosterone, 5α-androstane-3α,17β-diol, 5α-androstane-3β,17β-diol, 5-androstene-3β,17β-diol and testosterone. The results provide evidence for the presence of 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, Δ4–5 isomerase, 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, Δ4-3-oxosteroid-5α-reductase and 3α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase in human foetal skin. There were quantitative differences in the various enzyme activities between different body sites and skin specimens of different gestational age. 5α-Reductase activity was particularly high in genital skin. 3β-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase Δ4–5 isomerase activity was low in skin from a 12-week foetus, but high in skin specimens from 28-, 38- and 41-week foetuses. 17β-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activity was already high in the skin of the 12-week foetus and remained so in the older foetuses. These results were correlated with the development of the foetal sebaceous glands, and were in general agreement with a parallel enzyme histochemical study. The role of androgen metabolism in human foetal skin is discussed.
