Endocrine Abstracts

Perinatal glucocorticoid (GC) treatment accelerates lung maturation but may compromise health in adulthood, possibly via changes in hypothalamo-pituitary adrenal (HPA) activity. This study used western blot analysis and a well established in vitro method to investigate the effects of perinatal GC treatment on the expression and function of annexin 1 (ANXA1), a 37kDa protein which mediates facets of GC action in the neuroendocrine and host defence systems. Male rats were treate...

It is well documented that inappropriate exposure to glucocorticoids (GCs) in early life stunts growth and predisposes the individual to metabolic disorders, including type 2 diabetes. Evidence suggests that these programming actions involve alterations in GC receptor expression. However, the precise mechanisms remain to be determined. As GCs are known to modify both the neuroendocrine control of growth hormone (GH) secretion and the peripheral effects of GH on growth and meta...

Exposure to high levels of glucocorticoids (GCs) at critical stages in development is thought to compromise immune function in adulthood (1), but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Accordingly, we have examined the effects of perinatal dexamethasone treatment on the expression in the adult thymus of (a) inducible nitric oxide synthase (NOS-2, paradoxically also expressed constitutively in the thymus) which liberates NO, a factor involved in the negative selection...