Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction and aims: Diabetic neuropathy may trigger the development of anemia in patients even before the onset of advanced renal failure. Autonomic neuropathy with subsequent renal denervation, combined with damaged erythropoetin producing fibroblasts in renal cortex, may have contributed to the early development of anemia in the patients with diabetes. Proliferative retonopathy, autonomic neuropathy, microalbuminuria, and moderate renal failure, suggesting that, factors o...

Our previous results demonstrate that estrogens increase the expression of death receptors TNFRI and Fas in the anterior pituitary and sensitize anterior pituitary cells to pro-apoptotic factors. c-FLIP is a protein that interacts with procaspases 8 and 10 modulating death receptor activity. In normal tissues, two isoforms of c-FLIP have been identified, the short isoform (c-FLIPs) and the long one (c-FLIPL). c-FLIPs has an anti-apoptotic action whereas c-FLIPL has either anti...

B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) is a hormone secreted from the heart in response to volume load and serves clinically as a reliable biomarker in the diagnosis of cardiac dysfunction and heart failure. As patients with heart failure present an increased risk for developing diabetes, we aimed to investigate the role of BNP on parameters of glucose metabolism in a placebo-controlled crossover study performed in 10 healthy volunteers (25±1 years; BMI 23±1 kg/m2</su...

Carney’s complex was first identified as the association of primary adrenal nodular dysplasia, lentigines and cardiac and skin myxomas. Several other endocrine and non-endocrine disorders were subsequently added to the complex, including pituitary tumors and melanotic Schwannomas. We herewith describe a kindred with Carney’s complex featuring acromegaly as the common denominator.Patients & methods: A 42-year-old woman first presented to our...

Adhesion GPCRs (aGPCRs) have been implicated in developmental processes and deletion of some aGPCRs in neonatal mice results in decreased β-cell differentiation capacity, leading to glucose intolerance in adult life. Here, we investigated the expression of aGPCR mRNAs in mouse islets and determined the expression and function of GPR56, the most abundant aGPCR in islets, in developing mouse pancreas. Quantitative PCR indicated that mouse islets expressed mRNAs encoding 26 ...

In my short methodological talk, I will present why we need a detailed structural description of membrane proteins such as the TSH receptors (TSHR) of the endocrine system and how can we succeed to get three-dimensional structures. The talk includes a methodical toolbox of protein-production or -stabilization and advanced structural biology techniques like protein X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy for selected examples....

Although the notion of paracrine and autocrine signalling was already suggested more than 100 years ago, its full recognition dates from the last 30 years. Paracrine communication and autocrine loops have been shown to operate in all hormonal cell types and in folliculo-stellate cells and other non-hormonal cells during fetal and postnatal development and adulthood. More than 100 compounds have been identified that have, or may have, paracrine or autocrine actions, including t...

Food intake is centrally regulated in hypothalamic nuclei. Peripheral hormonal signals activate their corresponding receptors in the arcuate nucleus (arc) and modulate the expression of pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) and neuropetide Y (NPY)/agouti-related-protein (AgRP). Cleavage products of POMC stimulate melanocortin-4-receptors (MC4R) in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) to inhibit food intake or stimulate MC3Rs in the arc to activate a feedback loop. Further mor...

Introduction: The thyroid is a multifunctional endocrine gland which, by its hormones, affects all the organs, metabolisms and nonspecific defence of the body. The aim of this study is to establish if endogenous thyroxin (FT4) is involved in the nonspecific defence of the organism.Material and methods: 94 patients were included in the study, 47 with hyperthyroidism and 47 with hypothyroidism, 81 women, 13 men aged 7–78. FT4 was...

Background: Changes in gut hormone levels after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) has been proposed as a possible mechanism that explains the long-term weight loss and the improvement in glucose homeostasis after bariatric operations. In this prospective study we evaluated the changes in the fasting and postprandial levels of glucagon like peptide-1 (GLP-1), peptide YY (PYY), insulin and glucose during the first postoperative year after LSG.Methods: ...