Fat accumulation in tha adrenal gland: effect of oestradiol benzoate on the zona reticularis of the Mongolian gerbil adrenal gland.

Oestrogen promotes accumulation of abundant lipid droplets in the zona reticularis of the Mongolian gerbil. Lipid was observed in zona reticularis parenchymal cells but droplets were especially numerous in macrophages. Enlargement of lipid droplets was facilitated by an envelopment with lysosomal membranes. Focal areas or entire parenchymal cells may then undergo degeneration and necrosis and be incorporated into large macrophages recognizable by distinct areas of lipid-containing material as well as by small mitochondria with short cristae. Oestrogen may well act directly on zona reticularis cells inasmuch as nafoxidine, an antioestrogen, prevents these changes. Zona fasciculata cells were identical to those in controls and an intermediate region between the zona fasciculata and zona reticularis persists, although concentric whorls of rough endoplasmic reticulum seen in controls were replaced by disorganized, randomly dispersed cisternae of rough endoplasmic reticulum. Oestrogen does not elevate cortisol in the plasma.