Endocrine Abstracts

Estrogen protects women from cardiovascular disease through an unknown mechanism. Two subtypes of estrogen receptors (ERalfa and beta)have been isolated and cloned. We have demonstrated abundant vascular expression of ERbeta in female rats and mice using immunocytochemistry. A majority of endothelial and vascular smooth muscle cell nuclei in various segments of the vascular tree showed immunoreactivity towards ERbeta. Activation of vascular ERbeta with the selective ERbeta ago...

The chicken gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor (cGnRH-R) is notable for having a cytoplasmic carboxyl-terminal tail, which is not present in the mammalian GnRH-Rs. We have previously shown that the cGnRH-R undergoes rapid agonist-induced internalization, and requires the carboxyl-terminal tail for this process. To investigate the role of the carboxyl-terminal tail of the cGnRH-R in relation to its rapid internalization, and to identify the key residues involved, a series ...

Recently, two new peptides named Orexin-A and Orexin-B, have been implicated in the regulation of feeding behaviour. Studies in starved rats have shown that catabolic activity quickly predominates, reinforced by elevated corticosterone, not driven by ACTH, implicating adrenal activity as a metabolic regulator. In view of these findings, we sought to investigate whether orexin and orexin receptors are present in human fetal and adult adrenals, and therefore may be implicated in...

Introduction. We have reported a family with atypical Laron syndrome with no obvious defect in the growth hormone receptor but with an apparent defect in growth hormone (GH) signaling. We aimed to assess how this signaling defect alters GH-dependent gene expression.Methods. Atypical Laron fibroblasts (Lfib) and normal fibroblasts (Nfib) were exposed to 200ng/ml of recombinant GH for 24 hours. mRNA was extracted and reverse transcribed using...