{"id":234619,"date":"2026-04-04T14:10:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T19:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/stress-tested-testing-stress-novel-organoid-models-how-the-adrenal-gland-develops"},"modified":"2026-04-04T14:10:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T19:10:31","slug":"stress-tested-testing-stress-novel-organoid-models-how-the-adrenal-gland-develops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/stress-tested-testing-stress-novel-organoid-models-how-the-adrenal-gland-develops","title":{"rendered":"Stress tested, testing stress: Novel organoid models how the adrenal gland develops"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/stress-tested-testing-stress-novel-organoid-models-how-the-adrenal-gland-develops.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sitting above each kidney are two small endocrine glands about the size of walnuts. These are the adrenal glands, responsible for producing hormones that help control some of the body\u2019s most critical functions. Among these hormones, cortisol is particularly critical for survival. Often referred to as the \u201cstress hormone,\u201d it helps the body adapt to a wide range of challenges\u2014both emotional and physical, such as trauma or infection\u2014by regulating overall metabolism. Despite its central role in stress and endocrine biology, how the adrenal gland is built and how it functions remains poorly understood.<\/p>\n<p>Now, researchers led by Kotaro Sasaki and Michinori Mayama of the School of Veterinary Medicine have developed a <a href=\"https:\/\/medicalxpress.com\/news\/2022-11-recreate-adrenal-gland-petri-dish.html?utm_source=embeddings&utm_medium=related&utm_campaign=internal\" rel=\"related\">lab-grown organoid<\/a> system that recapitulates the complex tissue structure, development, and function of the developing human adrenal cortex\u2014the outer layer of the adrenal gland\u2014providing a powerful platform to study its biology. These results, published in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S193459092600072X\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Cell Stem Cell<\/i><\/a>, help establish a foundation for regenerative therapies targeting adrenal diseases.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe adrenal cortex is a major endocrine organ and central to our stress response,\u201d says Sasaki, the Richard King Mellon Associate Professor of Biomedical Sciences. \u201cDespite its importance, adrenal biology has lagged behind that of other organs. Our goal was to create a mini adrenal gland in a dish to better understand how the human adrenal forms and begins to function.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sitting above each kidney are two small endocrine glands about the size of walnuts. These are the adrenal glands, responsible for producing hormones that help control some of the body\u2019s most critical functions. Among these hormones, cortisol is particularly critical for survival. Often referred to as the \u201cstress hormone,\u201d it helps the body adapt to [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":662,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-234619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234619\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}