Background: DHEA-S is the most abundant steroid hormone in circulation, and promarily secreted from the adrenal cortex, but its physiopogical role is little known. One of the characteristid features of DHEA-S is progressive decrement of plasma DHEA-S level with advancing age, in contrast, plasma levels of other adrenal hormones are not chaging or little decreasing. To grasp the tends of plasma DHEA-S level and DHEA-s/cortisol ratio by age in healthy Korean, we measured the plasma DHEA-S levels and DHEA-S/cortisol ratios in healthy Korean.
Methods: Healthy Korean(men: 99, wonen: 102, age range: 15~97 year old)were studied. Shbjects were not taking drugs(such as glucocorticoid or androgenic medication) of cigarettes known to modify the plasma level of DHEA-S and cortisol, and had no evidence of hepatic, renal disease or hyperlipidemia as determined by serum lipid, bilirubin, SGOT, SGPT, BUN, creatinine. Data were analyzed by 10-year age group for men and women: i.e, 10~19, 20~29, 30~39, 40~49, 50~59, 60~69, 70~79, 80~89, and 90 year of more. Plasma DHEA-S levels were measured by using a commercially available RIA kit with ^(125)I labeled-DHEA-SO₄(Coat-A Count^(??) DHEA-So₄), and for the measurement of plasma cortisol levels, commercial Gamma Coat TM[^(125)I] Cortisol Radioimmunassay Kit was used.
Results:
1) In both men and women, plasma DHEA-S level showed high interindividual variation within the same age group.
2) There were individual sex differences in plasma levels of DHEA-S, in all age groups, plasma DHEA-S levels were significantly higher values for men than for women.
3) Maximum plasma DHEA-S levels(men; 237±3.35 μg/dL, women; 108±17.5 μg/dL) were at third decade in both men and women.
4) Both men and women showed the continuous decline in plasma DHEA-S level with age. These age-related decline was more prominent in men than in women(men; y=-3.152×＋292.6, r²=0.8459, p<0.05, women; y = -1.417x＋143.3, r² = 0.7278, p<0.05).
5) As an index of aging, there was no stastical differece between DHEA-S and DHEA-S/cortisol ratio.
Conclusion: In heathy Korean, there were high interindividual variation of plasma DHEA-S levels. In both men and women plasma DHEA-S level was peak at third decade, and from when it declined progressively with age. These results suggest that although the reliability of single plasma DHEA-S measurement are limited, the decline of DHEA-S with advancing age might be a specific marker of endocrinologic hormonal milieu(aging index). Also, concerning to individual adrenal secreting capacity, we measured DHEA-S/cortisol ratio. But we did not found that plasma DHEA-S/cortisol ratio is superior to the plasma DHEA-S level as an aging index. (J Kor Soc Endocrinol 12:245-254, 1997)
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