Endocrine Abstracts

Understanding human pancreatic beta cell differentiation provides safe, normal pathways by which to manipulate stem cells for the ambitious treatment of Type 1 diabetes (1-3). The transcription factor Neurogenin 3 (Ngn3) is a transient, yet critical regulator of this process, committing progenitor cells to an endocrine cell fate (4). However, the downstream consequences of NGN3 expression remain incompletely understood.To identify new target genes of NGN...

Dairy cows normally calve for the first time when not yet fully grown. Subsequent pregnancies occur during lactation. Therefore in primiparous (PP) cows the fetus competes for nutrients with maternal growth, while in multiparous (MP) cows they compete with milk production. Human epidemiological studies demonstrate that low birth weight can predispose offspring to a variety of metabolic diseases in adult life. This study investigated the hypothesis that such competition limits ...

While a number of studies have shown that treatment of children born small for gestational age (SGA) with continuously administered growth hormone (GH) induces a significant height improvement, this clinical trial approved by the local ethics committee investigated in a prospective way the growth response to different intermittent recombinant human GH (r-hGH, Saizen) treatment regimens over 4 years.Fifty-eight severely short (height standard deviation sc...

There are many theories regarding the function of UCP3, including transportation of fatty acids out of the mitochondria and production of reactive oxygen species. The function of UCP3 may influence the development of obesity and diabetes mellitus. In rodents UCP3 mRNA levels increase after T(sub)3(/sub) treatment. The ancient Meishan breed has enhanced neonatal survival rates than lean commercial breeds (C). Previous studies have demonstrated that plasma T(sub)3(/sub) is lower...

It is well established that the reduced neonatal mortality in Meishan, compared to commercial piglets, is due to resistance to hypothermia and hypoglycaemia. Underlying factors responsible for the differences in survival may include the disparity in plasma tri-iodothyronine (T3) concentrations and UCP expression (Mostyn et al (2004) Journal of Endocrinology, in press). ZD7114 (ZD), a synthetic beta3-adrenoceptor agonist, has been shown to improve thermogenesis in la...

11β hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11βHSD) type 2 inactivates cortisol and has not been previously found in ovine or human adipose tissue (1,2). Early-mid nutrient restriction (NR) increases adipose tissue stores in term offspring and upregulates 11βHSD1 mRNA expression in perirenal adipose tissue. We determined the presence of 11βHSD2 mRNA expression in omental adipose tissue of neonatal lambs after early-mid maternal NR.19 twin-beari...

Limited data exist describing direct volumetric measures of BMD (g/cm3) in adults with severe GHD or GH-insufficiency. We measured BMD in 30 GHD adults (peak GH to stimulation <3 mcg/l), 24 GH-insufficient adults (GHI, pGH 3 - 7 mcg/l), and 30 age/gender matched control subjects by DXA and pQCT.DXA performed at the lumbar spine, femoral neck, and total hip confirmed GHD adults to have reduced BMD (g/cm2) at all sites (p = 0.05, p...

Introduction: Loss of anosmin-1 function underlies the pathogenesis of X-linked Kallmann's syndrome (X-KS), a disorder characterized by anosmia (loss of smell) and hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism, due to olfactory bulb (OB) dysgenesis and failed migration of gonadotrophin releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons. Additional phenotypic features include bimanual synkinesis and unilateral renal agenesis. Anosmin-1 contains a whey acidic protein-like (WAP) domain and four contiguous fibron...