Kristina Junghans

Ms. Kristina Junghans

Western University of Health Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Pomona, California, USA

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

4Years (2023-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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Journal Article
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HZHuifei Sophia Zheng
Huifei Sophia Zheng
YKYuan Kang
Yuan Kang
QLQiongxia Lv
Qiongxia Lv
KJKristina Junghans
Kristina Junghans
CCCourtney Cleary
Courtney Cleary
Chen-Che Jeff HuangChen-Che Jeff Huang
Chen-Che Jeff Huang
Steroid hormones are synthesized through enzymatic reactions using cholesterol as the substrate. In steroidogenic cells, the required cholesterol for steroidogenesis can be obtained from blood circulation or synthesized de novo from acetate. One of the key enzymes that control cholesterol synthesis is 24-dehydrocholesterol reductase (encoded by DHCR24). In humans and rats, DHCR24 is highly expressed in the adrenal gland, especially in the zona fasciculata. We recently reported that DHCR24 was expressed in the mouse adrenal gland’s inner cortex and also found that thyroid hormone treatment significantly upregulated the expression of Dhcr24 in the mouse adrenal gland. In the present study, we showed the cellular expression of DHCR24 in mouse adrenal glands in early postnatal stages. We found that the expression pattern of DHCR24 was similar to the X-zone marker gene 20αHSD in most developmental stages. This finding indicates that most steroidogenic adrenocortical cells in the mouse adrenal gland do not synthesize cholesterol locally. Unlike the 20αHSD-positive X-zone regresses during pregnancy, some DHCR24-positive cells remain present in parous females. Conditional knockout mice showed that the removal of Dhcr24 in steroidogenic cells did not affect the overall development of the adrenal gland or the secretion of corticosterone under acute stress. Whether DHCR24 plays a role in conditions where a continuous high amount of corticosterone production is needed requires further investigation.