Characterization, Expression, and Immunohistochemical Localization of 5α-Reductase in Human Skin

The control and measurement of sebum secretion.

Clinical assessment of 134 patients with hidradenitis suppurativa revealed clinical evidence supporting an androgen-based endocrine disorder underlying the condition. Such features included postpubertal onset maximal during the third decade; female preponderance (13:5); premenstrual flare in 57 per cent of women; absence of this flare associated with irregular or anovulatory menstrual cycles; and an increased incidence of obesity and acne. Detailed hormone profiles in 36 female patients and 14 controls showed evidence of relative androgen excess and decreased progesterone levels in those patients without a premenstrual flare. Obesity and enhanced peripheral androgen conversion by apocrine tissue are possible explanations for normal serum androgen profiles in patients with a flare. Precise elucidation of the hormonal abnormality is a prerequisite for effective medical treatment of early disease.

Endocrine basis for the clinical presentation of hidradenitis suppurativa.

Characterization, Expression, and Immunohistochemical Localization of 3β-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase/Δ5-Δ4 Isomerase in Human Skin

SUMMARY

Shoulder skin from young men with and without acne was incubated in vitro in Krebs Improved Ringer I medium with 7α-3Hdehydroepiandrosterone,7α-3Handrostenedione and 7α-3Htestosterone. There were no marked differences in steroid metabolism between the acne and control groups but skin from acne patients did form rather more 5α-dihydrotestosterone from testosterone than did skin from control subjects. Skin from the shoulder (acne area) of acne and control subjects metabolized dehydroepiandrosterone more rapidly than did skin from the thigh (non-acne area); this appeared to be due to higher activity of 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase Δ4-5 isomerase in shoulder than thigh skin.



A comparison of steroid metabolism in skin incubated in Krebs Ringer medium with that in cryostat sections of skin incubated in a tris-buffered medium showed that the method of incubation could affect the quantitative pattern of steroid metabolism in vitro.

Metabolism of androgens by human skin in acne

SUMMARY. A method has been established to estimate semiquantitatively the activity of HSD enzymes and is described in detail. In the main, the method depends on demonstrating NAD-dependent hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase by using nitro-BT as a hydrogen acceptor leading to the deposition of blue diformazan particles. The latter are then counted in a sebaceous gland by means of a Wild M20 microscope with a drawing tube attachment. The method is limited in use as a semi-quantitative comparison of enzyme activity in a few adjacent sections of a sebaceous gland.

Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activity in human skin. I. Histochemical techniques for the demonstration of 3-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, and a method for the semiquantitation of its activity.

SUMMARY.— The effects of various factors on the histochemical demonstration of 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activity in human skin were examined by a semiquantitative technique of granule counting. The optimum concentration of DHA was found to be 0·1 mg./ml. and of NAD 0·3 mg./ml. Vitamin K and nicotinamide enhanced the histochemical demonstration of the enzyme whereas cyproterone and cyproterone acetate inhibited the reaction.

Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activtty in human skin

SUMMARY.— Slices of skin from human subjects have been shown to transform 3H-dehydroepiandrosterone predominantly to 4-androstene-3,17-dione and 5-androstene-3β,17β-diol. Testosterone, testosterone sulphate and dehydro-epiandrosterone sulphate were not formed in detectable amounts under the conditions of the investigation. Skin from the shoulder appeared significantly more active than that from the thigh or axilla in metabolizing the dehydro-epiandrosterone.

M. P. Macsween

Papers

Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activity in human skin. I. Histochemical techniques for the demonstration of 3-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, and a method for the semiquantitation of its activity.

Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activtty in human skin

The in vitro metabolism of 7-alpha-3H dehydroepiandrosterone by human skin.