Adrenal Cortex

by Greg Crowther

The adrenal cortex -- that is, the outer layer of the adrenal gland -- produces both mineralcorticoids such as aldosterone, which stimulates the kidneys to conserve sodium, and glucocorticoids such as cortisol, which regulates fuel metabolism. This overview song was written for Biology 351 at UW-Bothell.

Aldosterone and cortisol
(AC, AC, AC!)
Are what the AC's pushing.
(AC, AC, AC!)
They're awfully low or crazy high
(AC, AC, AC!)
In Addison's and Cushing's.

• MP3

• sheet music (with melody play-back)

Songs like this one can be used during class meetings and/or in homework assignments. Either way, the song will be most impactful if students DO something with it, as opposed to just listening.

An initial, simple follow-up activity could be to answer the study questions below. A more extensive interaction with the song might entail (A) learning to sing it, using an audio file and/or sheet music as a guide, and/or (B) illustrating it with pictures, bodily poses, and/or bodily movements. The latter activity could begin with students identifying the most important or most challenging content of the song, and deciding how to illustrate that particular content.

This song lends itself to group or whole-class sing-alongs because the simple and repetitive "AC, AC, AC!" part can be quickly learned and repeated by a "chorus" of any size. The two notes of this part are A and C if the song is performed in the key of Dm/F.

(1) In your own words, what do aldosterone and cortisol do?

(2) How are the levels of these hormones perturbed in Addison's Disease and Cushing's Syndrome, respectively?

(3) Does the adrenal medulla produce the same hormones as the adrenal cortex?