Endocrine Abstracts

Galanin-like peptide (GALP) is a novel peptide isolated from the porcine hypothalamus. Within the hypothalamus GALP mRNA is confined to the arcuate nucleus from which GALP immunoreactive fibres project to the medial preoptic area. Previous studies indicate that GALP may be regulated by leptin. Intracerebroventricular administration of GALP has been shown to stimulate luteinising hormone release. Low circulating levels of leptin lead to the down regulation of the hypothalamic-p...

Background: Atypical antipsychotic agents are useful in treating patients with schizophrenia and other psychoses, but may cause hyperglycaemia. Hyperglycaemia is not dose dependent and is reversible on stopping the treatment.Occurrence of diabetes after atypical antipsychotic drug administration is of major concern as patients may not recognise their symptoms, and health workers may fail to reach an early diagnosis, with major implications for morbidity ...

Nuclear receptors control developmental and physiological processes by regulating the transcription of gene networks in specific cells. This is achieved by the recruitment of coactivators and corepressors that lead to chromatin remodelling and alterations in gene transcription. RIP140 is a ligand dependant corepressor for nuclear receptors that plays key roles in adipose tissue and muscle to regulate energy homeostasis.RIP140 regulates carbohydrate and l...

Macroprolactin (MPL) is a complex of prolactin (PRL) and IgG. It is considered to have little bioactivity and may account for a significant proportion of patients with 'idiopathic hyperprolactinaemia'. We determined the prevalence of macroprolactinaemia in patients with hyperprolactinaemia and examined the clinical features. An Immuno-1 system with PEG precipitation was used to identify MPL, with a recovery of <50% taken as indicating significant macroprolactinaemia.In ...

CGRP-alpha is a 37 amino acid peptide generated by alternative splicing of calcitonin gene transcripts. CGRP-alpha is present in a number of areas of the brain involved in the regulation of appetite, including the PVN. CGRP(8-37) is a competitive antagonist of CGRP-alpha at the CGRP-type 1 receptor. CGRP-alpha is known to inhibit food intake when given intracerebroventricularly, but the anatomical localisation of this effect is not known. Aims To investigate the effects of CGR...

Galainin-like peptide (GALP) is a recently identified hypothalamic neuropeptide expressed in the arcuate nucleus. It is structurally related to galanin, GALP amino acid residues 9-21 are identical to the N terminal 1-13 residues of galanin. GALP binds to galanin receptors with high affinity but has greatest affinity to the GAL R2 receptor. Galanin has previously been demonstrated to significantly increase food intake when administered into the third ventricle or the paraventri...

Nuclear Receptors control many developmental and physiological processes by regulating the expression of networks of genes. Their ability to activate or repress gene transcription depends on the recruitment of coactivators and corepressors that function as scaffolds for the binding of chromatin remodelling enzymes. RIP140 is a ligand dependant corepressor for most, if not all, nuclear receptors with key roles in energy homeostasis and reproduction.RIP140...

The hypothalamic peptide, cocaine and amphetamine regulated transcript (CART) was originally reported to act as an anorexigenic peptide. However, we have recently shown that CART injection into the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus (ARC), acutely stimulates food intake. Here, we characterise the role of arcuate nucleus CART in the long term regulation of food intake and brown adipose tissue (BAT) using i) repeated intra-arcuate injection of CART peptide [CART(55-102)] and ii) polye...

PGC1 and RIP140 are key regulators of nuclear receptor signalling that control metabolic gene expression in adipose tissue, liver and muscle. PGC1 promotes whereas RIP140 represses the expression of a network of catabolic genes in adipose and muscle. Thus mice devoid of RIP140 accumulate less fat in adipose tissue and liver while mitochondrial biogenesis and respiration is increased in type 2 muscle fibres; as a consequence, the mice maintain their insulin sensitivity as they ...

Background: Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are increasing in incidence and prevalence. Small intestine, rectum, pancreas and appendix are the most common enteric sites of NETs, and when identified early, surgical resection can be curative. We hypothesized that observed increases in incidence and prevalence of NETs are primarily driven by earlier detection of loco-regional tumors. In turn, increases in incidence of early-stage tumors is associated with increases in resection and ...