ADRENAL GLAND STRUCTURE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF HYALINE MEMBRANE DISEASE

Abstract

Adrenal cortical function may influence the development of hyaline membrane disease. Corticosteroid administration to animal fetuses reportedly accelerates some parameters of lung maturation. Analysis of 387 consecutive autopsies on human neonates demonstrated that adrenal glands were 19% lighter in infants with hyaline membrane disease than in those without the disorder owing to a greater number of adrenal cortical cells in the latter infants. A positive correlation was found between the presence of infection arising before birth and the absence of hyaline membrane disease, the infected infants having larger adrenal glands. It was found that anencephalic neonates who had little or no adrenal fetal cortical zone and half sized adult zones had 45% the mass of osmiophilic granules in pulmonary type II alveolar cells as did nonanencephalic control infants. The osmiophilic granules are reportedly the anatomic representation of surfactant.