Endocrine Abstracts

Recent studies report that nandrolone, a widely used anabolic steroid by athletes to enhance their performance, is produced endogenously in the humans. However, the detection of nandrolone has mainly been indicated by the measurement of its urinary metabolites (19-norandrosterone and 19-noretiocholanone). The aim of this study was to develop a sensitive and specific ELISA for nandrolone to investigate whether the parent steroid can be detected in the urine of healthy volunteer...

The aim of this study was to determine if a change in the amount of fat consumed in the diet influenced female salivary postprandial testosterone and cortisol concentrations and whether any changes affected circadian rhythm.The study was conducted on 9 healthy female subjects aged 21–45 years (BMI mean=22.5±1.61) and has been approved by the University College Ethical Committee. Over 3 non-consecutive days, each subject consumed 2 meals, lunch...

BackgroundSerum testosterone remains the most important investigation in the diagnosis of androgen deficiency in men. Most of the circulating testosterone is bound to albumin and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), whereas free testosterone accounts for approximately 2% of total testosterone. Because direct measurement of free testosterone is impractical in routine practice, several equations have been used to provide clinically useful estimates of free...

The rising prevalence of obesity and type II diabetes makes the diagnosis of Cushing’s syndrome increasingly difficult. The dexamethasone-suppressed corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) test, which involves CRH administration immediately following a standard low dose dexamethasone suppression test (LDDST), has been reported to diagnose Cushing’s syndrome with 100% sensitivity and specificity. We adapted our LDDST protocol to include CRH administration post-dexameth...

An increase in cutaneous pigmentation during pregnancy is common, but usually regresses following parturition. Epidemiological studies also suggest that females may have a sex survival advantage in cases of malignant melanoma. However, estrogen action in melanoma remains contradictory. We have recently demonstrated that both epidermal and hair follicle melanocytes express ERα and ERβ however, estrogen action in human pigment cell biology remains poorly characterised....

It is well known that glucocorticoid (GC)-induced apoptosis in thymocytes is triggered via glucocorticoid receptor activation. Nevertheless, the mechanism of paradoxical promoting effect of glucocorticoids on thymocytes survival and GC -suppression of age-associated thymic involution [1] is poorly understood. It is reasonable to propose that irreversible apoptotic DNA fragmentation can be an important regulatory step in apoptosis. A series of findings suggest that activation o...

Oestrogens can prevent or delay the age-related deterioration of the skin. Post-menopausal women have a reduced rate of wound healing, which can be reversed by oestrogen therapy. However, the mechanisms underlying these effects remain poorly understood. To understand more fully the role of oestrogen in the cutaneous wound healing process we have measured migration, proliferation and the secretion of mitogenic factors by cultured dermal fibroblasts in response to17β-oestra...

The common autoimmune endocrinopathies are caused by susceptibility alleles at several genetic loci including MHC, CTLA4, PTPN22 and probably several others. Many of these susceptibility alleles are shared between several different autoimmune disorders including type 1 diabetes, autoimmune thyroid diseases and rheumatoid arthritis. In recent months a novel susceptibility locus was identified in the 5’ end of the Fc receptor-like 3 (FCRL3) gene ...

IntroductionSevere physical, and psychiatric illnesses are characterised by high cortisol levels and disturbance in circadian rhythm. A distinct awakening cortisol response and a marked diurnal decline is reported to be associated with better physical and psychological health, deviations from this pattern are negative for health. It is however not known if ITU patients have any specific cortisol pattern associated with their altered sleep awakeness cycle...

Liver X receptors α and β (NR1H3 and NR1H2) play major a role within cells and tissues involved in lipid metabolism and cholesterol homeostasis including macrophages, the liver and the small intestine. Within the skin however, the roles of LXR are less well documented, although in vitro studies using primary human keratinocytes have implemented LXR in the formation of the stratum corneum via the increase of transcription of the proteins involved in the AP-1 co...

ObjectiveTo investigate whether salivary cortisol could provide an alternative to serum cortisol for hypocortisolaemic patients undergoing hydrocortisone day curves.MethodCorrelational study of 58 patients receiving corticosteroid replacement therapy for primary (9) or secondary (49) hypocortisolaemia. Paired samples of saliva and serum were taken at pre-determined time points throughout a 7½ hour hydroc...

Aim of the study: to analyze surgical outcome in patients who underwent unilateral or bilateral adrenalectomy for hypercortisolism.Methods: retrospective study including patients operated on between January 1994 and June 2005.Results: adrenalectomies for hypercortisolism were performed in 18 patients (5 males, 13 females, mean age 43.6±16.1 years). Indications were cortisol producing adenoma (n=10), adrenocortical carcinoma (n...

Oestrogens have important modulatory effects on the skin and the hair follicle. Although they inhibit hair growth in animal models, their effect on human hair growth is less clear. Therefore, we have investigated the effect of oestrogenic compounds on human hair growth in vitro using a whole follicle assay system.Individual microdissected hair follicles from female temporal/occipital scalp (n=6, age range 49–69 mean age 54.67yrs) were incuba...

Glucocorticoids (Gc) act through the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) to regulate gene transcription, but also initiate a number of rapid non-genomic effects. The inactive GR is found complexed with hsp90 and immunophilins. Several other signalling molecules including c-src and raf-1 also associate with hsp90. Evidence suggests that Gc treatment results in the rapid activation and dissociation of GR and c-src from these complexes. We speculate that GR-mediated activation of one or...

Glucocorticoids (Gc) are potent anti-inflammatory agents, but their clinical use is limited by their significant side effects. The effects of glucocorticoids are mediated by the cytosolic glucocorticoid receptor (GR), which regulates transcription by transactivation or transrepression. Independent of these genomic effects of the GR are other, very rapid non-genomic effects.The glucocorticoid receptor forms a complex with hsp90, FKBP51, FKBP52 and cyp40 i...