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| Situated along the perimeter of the adrenal gland, the adrenal
cortex mediates the stress response through the production of
mineralocorticoids and glucocorticoids, including aldosterone
and cortisol respectively. It is also a secondary site of
androgen synthesis. All adrenocortical hormones are synthesised
from cholesterol. Cholesterol is transported into the inner
mitochondrial membrane by steroidogenic acute regulatory protein
(StAR), where it is converted into pregnenolone by the enzyme
CYP11A. Accordingly, production of hormones in all three layers
of the adrenal cortex is limited by the transportation of
cholesterol into the mitochondria and by its conversion into
pregnenolone. Pregnenolone can be either dehydrogenated to
progesterone or hydroxylated to 17-alpha-hydroxypregnenolone.
The steps up to this point occur in many steroid-producing
tissues. Subsequent steps, however, onl