Endocrine Abstracts

We have recently explored the involvement of ghrelin in the eating response to stress in humans and found that ghrelin levels increased in parallel to cortisol after a standardized psychological stress. To further elucidate this interaction, we examined the ghrelin response to pharmacological manipulation of the HPA axis.Following approval from the local Ethical Committee, six lean, healthy male volunteers were examined on two occasions. Blood samples we...

Several studies indicated that estrogen receptors (ERs) and vitamin D receptor (VDR), as well 1α-hydroxylase 25-hydroxy vitamin D (1OHase) are expressed in various normal and cancerous cell types. To date, there are no reported studies on the different expressions of VDR, 1OHase and ERs, in human thyroid normal and cancer cells. This study addresses these questions. Tissues harvested from papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) and normal glands explants were used throughout eithe...

Vitamin D receptors are widely expressed in the skeletal system, and vitamin D and its metabolites and analogs, exert a variety of biological activities such as regulation of cellular proliferation and differentiation, cell calcium transients and energy metabolism in vitro. The latter is exerted through the control of the brain type isozyme of creatine kinase specific activity (CK), which serves to provide a readily available reservoir for ATP generation under increased worklo...