Endocrine Abstracts

Ghrelin, ligand for the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHS-R), was isolated from the stomach. Immunoreactive neurons were observed in the hypothalamic nuclei and the ependymal layer of the third ventricle. Lower amounts are produced in the small intestine, pancreas, liver, kidney, placenta, and pituitary. Receptors have widespread distribution in the body, mainly concentrated in the hypothalamus-pituitary unit.Ghrelin, a 28-amino acid peptide, has...

Since earlier publications revealed a prominent and versatile impact of the neuromedin peptide family on several neuroendocrine processes, in the present experiments we focused on the effects of a recently discovered member of neuromedines, neuromedine S on such phenomena as open-field behaviour and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) activation. The peptide was administered intracerebroventricularly to freely moving rats and 30 minutes later the aforementioned neuronedocrine...

Introduction: In vitro monolayer cell cultures are not able to faithfully model the biological features of the three dimensional (3D) structure of solid tumours. There are limited information about the applicability of 3D cell culturing methods for modeling of tumours of endocrine organs.Aim: The aim of our work was the establishment and characterization of three-dimensional in vitro models of various endocrine tumour cells in order to ...

Background: The altered DNA methylation of certain genes in Pituitary Neuroendocrine Tumors (PitNETs) are well known. However little information is available regarding global methylation changes and the process of demethylation in these tumors. In addition, influencing global methylation-demethylation could be a potential new therapeutic option especially in clinically non-functional PitNETs.Material and Methods: Overall, 44 fresh frozen pituitary adenom...