Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Cardiac fibrosis is a common biological response to cardiovascular injury. Maladaptive cardiac fibrosis as observed in patients with hypertension, obesity or diabetes mellitus contributes to contractile dysfunction and electrophysiological disorders. Currently, there is controversy regarding whetherexposure to a high fat diet (HFD) in isolation induces cardiovascular damage and fibrosis. Here, we set out to explore the contribution of different models of obesity to...

Dehydroepiandrosterone is the most abundant steroid hormone circulating in the human body, we focused on its 7-hydroxylated derivatives. Many observations in rodents have demonstrated the anti-inflammatory and immune modulating activity of 7β-hydroxy-androst-5-enes, and on the basis of these experiments androst-5-ene-3β,7β,17β-triol is considered as a potential agent in the treatment of autoimmune diseases. In contrast to the fairly abundant information on ...

Abstract: Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) is the most powerful naturally occurring androgen with three to six times higher biopotency than testosterone. Time onset of benign prostatic hyperplasia and alopecia in middle life could be the result of an imbalance between androgens. The decline of testosterone during lifespan is well known, controversial data can be found concerning the age dependence of DHT levels. We analysed the levels of testosterone, dihydrotestosterone and SHBG fro...

Introduction: The influence of steroid hormones on food intake is well described. However, there are only a few studies on the effect of food intake on steroid levels.Methods: The study involved eight non-smoker women (average age 29.48±2.99 years; average BMI 21.3±1.3 kg/m2); they did not use any kind of medication affecting steroidogenesis. We analysed the influence of four various stimuli on the levels of steroid hormones and mela...

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...

Introduction: Postpartum depression affects 10–15% women after childbirth. There is no currently generally accepted theory about the causes and mechanisms of postpartum mental disorders. The principal hypothesis concerns the association with sudden changes in the production of hormones affecting the nervous system of the mother and, on the other hand, with the ability of receptor systems to adapt to these changes.Methods: We observed changes in ster...

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 ...

Introduction: Obesity increases the incidence of hypogonadism in men, and hypogonadism in turn plays a role in obesity. One of the first mechanisms proposed to explain this was a hypothesis based on the principle that obese men have higher estrogen levels, and that increased estrogens provide feedback to the hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis, reducing the secretion of gonadotropins and leading to a decrease of overall testosterone levels. This concept has since been quest...

Background of the study: There is lack of data in the Czech Republic on iodine status in patients suffering from diabetes mellitus type 1 (DM1) considered to be at risk of iodine deficiency.Subjects and methods: A total of 54 males and 51 females ‒ median (25th, 75th percentile): age (years) 42 (31, 55); BMI 25.9 (23.3, 29.7); HbA1c (mmol/mol) 61 (51.2, 71.0) treated for DM1 were included in this cross–sectional study. In addition to iodine s...

Introduction: Salivary cortisol measurement, representing free cortisol, seems to be a promissing alternative method to serum cortisol. Besides its use in the diagnostics of hypercortisolism, it could be of help in evaluation of adrenocortical reserve. It might be useful especially in patients on estrogen replacement, which modulates transcortin and hence total cortisol levels.Aims: Compare the reliability of salivary vs. serum cortisol assessment during...