Endocrine Abstracts

A number of evidence indicate that mood (affective) disorders are influenced by various bioactive steroids such as corticoids, sex hormones and neuroactive steroids. However, to date, there are limited data concerning the discrimination between patients suffering from the disorders and controls, or regarding the classification of individual subtypes of mood disorders on the basis of steroid profiling. Therefore 47 steroids including their conjugates and further related substan...

Some steroids modulate the permeability of ionotropic receptors on cell membranes and therefore may activate or inhibit neuronal activity depending on the steroid structure. These neuroactive steroids (NAS) exert neuroprotective effects like the neuronal remyelination.Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common cause of neurological disability in young adults. Therefore, the authors have followed the neuroprotective, GABAergic, glycinergic, glutamatergic ...

ACTH test is widely accepted as diagnostic tool in suspicion on peripheral as well as on central hypocorticism. The optimal dose of tetracosactide for determination of hypocorticism is still matter of debate. The 250 μg as a standard dose of tetracosactide has been approved for diagnosis of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) many years ago. Moreover, current limited availability of tetracosactide and its increased financial cost on the market raised the question whether...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common inflammatory autoimmune and demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that compromises health and leads to disability. Sex differences in the prevalence and progression of MS suggest the involvement of sex steroids in the pathophysiology of MS. In late pregnancy, at the highest levels of progesterone and estradiol, the number of relapses decreases and increases again after delivery due to changes in steroid levels. In additio...