Endocrine Abstracts

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is rapidly becoming the commonest cause of liver cirrhosis and leading indication for liver transplant worldwide. It is tightly associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes, yet the precise mechanisms that drive its aetiology are not fully defined. Dysregulation of both glucocorticoid and androgen metabolism has been implicated in its pathogenesis. The availability of these hormones to bind and activate their receptors is mainly regulat...

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a serine kinase that couples energy and nutrient abundance to cell growth and is critically involved in the onset and progression of diabetes, cancer and ageing. Placental mTOR is involved in nutrient sensing and transfer to the fetus. Animal models suggest that placental mTOR is upregulated in pregnancies complicated by gestational diabetes (GDM). Our aim was to characterize expression, and cellular localization of mTOR and whether ...

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease NAFLD has been associated with androgen deficiency, yet in the majority of patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis NASH, androgens levels are normal. In contrast, women with polycystic ovarian syndrome PCOS, which is characterised by androgen excess, have evidence of increased liver fat. Our hypothesis is that androgen exposure to the liver may be crucial in the amount of lipid that can accumulate in hepatocytes. C3A human hepatoma cells w...

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is associated with adverse perinatal outcomes, and increased risk of post-natal type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. However, whether GDM increases the risk of developing incident Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is unclear and has not been well examined in previous studies. This is important considering the significant health burden of NAFLD and the opportunity to interfere in high risk population in order to red...

Oxidative stress in humans has been associated with obesity. Puberty is a maturation period characterized mainly by changes of the GH and the gonadotrophin hormones secretion. To investigate the possible association of the GH and the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal (HPG) axes before and during early puberty, with the pro- and anti-oxidation mechanisms 76 healthy, pre-pubertal normal weight (n=28), pre-pubertal obese (n=11), early pubertal normal weig...