Endocrine Abstracts

Bodybuilders and athletes have recognised for several decades that the use of anabolic steroids can promote muscle growth and strength but it is only relatively recently that these agents are being revisited for clinical purposes. The pharmacology of anabolic steroids is not well understood, although intracellular steroid metabolism and also the topology of the bound androgen receptor interacting with co-activators are considered to be important factors. Behavioural changes by...

Methyl oxime–trimethylsilyl (MO-TMS) derivatisation with gas chromatography–mass spectrometric (GC-MS) analysis has been well established in the analysis of glucocorticoids and is still used in many laboratories for profiling endogenous steroids for clinical purposes. There appears to be a clinical need to extend the analysis to xenobiotic glucocorticoids, primarily to elucidate cases of patients presenting with adverse symptoms associated with glucocorticoid excess,...

Proteins associated with pregnancy urine and urinary-derived hCG preparations have been associated with stimulation of Candida albicans, induction of apoptosis in Kaposi's sarcoma, and inhibition of HIV replication. The active components have been previously reported to be 18 kDa, 15-30 kDa and 2-4 kDa proteins, and suggested in one study to be a ribonuclease (1).The urinary hCG preparation CG-10 (supplied by Sigma Chemical Company Ltd) is known to be pa...

Vasopressin release is stimulated following the administration of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA ) in man. MDMA and a major metabolite, 4-hydroxy-3-methoxymethamphetamine (HMMA), have also been shown to stimulate neurohypophysial hormone release in vitro. A study has now been performed comparing the response to four other metabolites with the parent compound. Hypothalami obtained from male Wistar rats were exposed to medium alone (B1) and the medium containing ...

Hormonal male contraceptives suppress gonadotropin secretion to induce azoospermia. These also markedly reduce the testicular production of testosterone. To prevent hypogonadism, pharmaceutical preparations of testosterone therefore need to be administered as a replacement therapy. Peripheral testosterone concentrations thus reflect the exogenous hormone rather than testicular production. However because the testis contributes approximately 95% of epitestosterone (E) productio...

Metabolism of the dimeric glycoprotein hormone human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) results in the urinary excretion of hCG beta core fragment originating from the beta subunit of hCG (hCGbeta). hCG beta core fragmant retains a certain antigenic shape as well as two metabolically processed N-linked oligosaccharides. Hyperglycosylation of hCGbeta has been used as an indication of aberrant pregnancy especially in malignant disease. We have previously characterised the carbohydrat...