Abstract: Objective To explore the influence of calcium channel blocker(CCB), verapamil, on steroid hormone profile of primary cultured aldosterone producing adenoma(APA)cells. Methods The adrenal tumor tissues of 6 APA patients with hypokalemia operated in Peking Union Medical College Hospital were cultured and treated with different concentrations of verapamil. The steroid hormone profile was detected by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(LC-MS/MS). Results The level of aldosterone in 50 μmol/L verapamil group was lower than that in 10 μmol/L verapamil group and control group(P＜0.01). The levels of aldosterone precursor, 11-deoxycorticosterone in verapamil 10 μmol/L group was lower than that in control group (P＜0.05). The levels of 18-oxocortisol(18-OXOF) and 18-hydroxycortisol(18-OHF) in verapamil 50 μmol/L group and verapamil 10 μmol/L group were lower than that in the control group (P＜0.05). In addition, verapamil also had some inhibitory effects on glucocorticoids such as cortisol and cortisone, and adrenal derived sex hormones such as dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate(DHEA-S) and 11 beta-hydroxytestosterone(11β-OHT). Conclusions In addition to inhibit-ing aldosterone secretion in primary cultured APA cells, CCB has significant inhibitory effects on a variety of other steroid hormones, such as precursor 11-deoxycorticosterone, cortisol, metabolites, 18-OXOF and 18-OHF.

Key words: aldosterone producing adenoma, steroid hormone profile, aldosterone, 18-oxocortisol, 18-hydroxycortisol