Idiopathic aldosteronism. A possible disease of the intermediate lobe of the pituitary
R. Franco-Saenz, P. J. Mulrow and K. Kim
A 37-year-old woman with documented primary aldosteronism died of a
cerebral hemorrhage. At postmortem examination she was found to have
bilateral, adrenal hyperplasia and nodular basophilic hyperplasia of the
anterior and intermediate lobe of the pituitary. Based on these findings
and experimental evidence suggesting the existence of a pituitary factor
that stimulates aldosterone secretion, we postulate that idiopathic
aldosteronism is caused by an abnormality of the intermediate lobe of the
pituitary gland leading to overproduction of non-adrenocorticotropic
hormone peptides derived from pro-opiomelanocortin that increase
aldosterone production and cause hyperplasia of the adrenal glands.
