Abstract
Dynamic testings for pituitary and adrenal activity in 2 bloodrelated children (boy 10.5 yr; girl 8.0 yr) with juvenile hypertensive syndrome associated with low plasma renin activity and other characteristic symptoms of mineralocorticoid excess failed to show any overproduction of aldosterone. For other steroids also the profiles were not grossly deviated except androgen and DOC excretions were slightly elevated. Both subjects were without any virilization and daily 25 mg of cortisol failed to improve clinical condition. Histological study of the male subject's adrenal cortex revealed strangely not hyperplasia but hypoplasia. Daily dexamethasone treatment improved hypertension and hypokalemic alkalosis. Extensive analysis of urinary steroids revealed the existence of 5α and 5β epimers (not separated) of dihydrocortisol (boy 107.04/ug; girl 95.76/ug) and dihydrocortisone (boy 87.881 /ug;girl 80.84/ug) where the former was present in much larger quantities than that found by Ulick et al. (1977) in a 3-yr-old girl and recently postulated as an effective mineralocorticoid by Marver and Edelman (1978).
Article PDF
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Moeller, H., Rosendahl, W., Gupta, D. et al. Abnormal profile of cortisol metabolism in two children with juvenile hypertensive syndrome. Pediatr Res 13, 1187 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197910000-00044
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197910000-00044