Endocrine Abstracts

Within the adrenal gland, chromaffin cells and their progenitors are exposed to a wide variety of growth factors and hormones, including adrenal androgens such as DHEA. The DHEA producing-zona reticularis of the adrenal cortex is in close proximity to the neural crest-derived catecholamine-producing chromaffin cells of the medulla, enabling strong paracrine interactions. In vivo studies in humans revealed that congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase ...

Objectives: Oxidative stress is of critical importance in the pathogenesis of endocrinopathies. Since cholesterol serves as a major source of steroid hormone synthesis we investigated the effect of hypochlorite-modified low density lipoprotein (LDL) on aldosterone and cortisol release from human adrenocortical NCI-H295R cells.Methods: Native LDL obtained from healthy volunteers was oxidized to varying degrees by sodium hypochlorite. The resulting modifie...

Chromaffin cells from adrenal medulla are the main source of epinephrine and norepinephrine hormones which are known to mediate so called fight-or-flight response to multiple environmental stress conditions. Chromaffin cells together with sympathetic neurons share the same sympathoadrenal cell lineage, but in contrast to neurons they maintain their proliferation during whole life span. However, little is known about chromaffin cells regeneration in an adult adrenal medulla.</p...

This study examined whether different forms of hereditary pheochromocytoma are characterized by different catecholamine phenotypes and whether this is reflected by differences in plasma concentrations of normetanephrine, metanephrine and methoxytyramine – the respective O-methylated metabolites of norepinephrine, epinephrine and dopamine. Subjects included 154 patients with hereditary pheochromocytoma, 72 with tumors associated with von Hippel–Lindau (VHL) syndrome, ...

One important risk factor for the development of arterial hypertension is abdominal obesity. Aldosterone, secreted by adrenocortical cells, promotes sodium and water retention and by that regulates blood pressure homeostasis. Increased serum aldosterone levels have been linked to the development of obesity hypertension. Therefore, identifying the link between obesity and increased aldosterone secretion is of high importance for the management of obesity hypertension.<p cla...

Glucocorticoids (GC) are one of the most potent anti-inflammatory pharmacological agents. However, owing to their pleiotropic nature, their clinical effectiveness is frequently limited by their deleterious off-target effects. Frequently, metabolic abnormalities arise from GC excess involving the development of dyslipidaemia, insulin resistance and muscle atrophy as well as excessive fat accumulation in both white adipose tissue (WAT) and the liver. In addition, suppressed ther...

Evidence indicates that the adrenals are sexually dimorphic and asymmetric. These differences may have implications for the prevalence and progression of adrenal diseases, which also show asymmetry and sexual dimorphism. The present study aims to characterize the morphological and metabolic differences associated with adrenal sex and asymmetry in mice and humans. Adrenals were compared bilaterally in male and female C57B/6NRj mice with regard to morphological and hormonal char...

Despite their therapeutic effectiveness, glucocorticoids’ (GC) clinical usage is frequently limited due to the deleterious metabolic effects. GC-induced obesity arises from excessive fat accumulation in white adipose tissue (WAT) as well as suppressed thermogenic capacity in brown adipose tissue (BAT). Since the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) plays a fundamental role in adipose tissue biology, we examined the interaction between GCs and SNS signaling in the adipose orga...

Cellular reprogramming describes the process where a fully differentiated, specialized cell type is induced to transform into a different cell. Cell reprogramming techniques can become powerful tools for modelling diseases, drug testing and for personalized cellular therapy. The adrenal cortex is the primary site of steroid synthesis. Adrenal insufficiency, which can be life threatening, is caused by a number of adrenal disorders, and lifelong management of these patients with...

Introduction: Macrophages and lymphocytes are considered as major players in adipose tissue (AT) inflammation and liver steatosis, contributing to metabolic dysregulation during obesity. The costimulatory molecules B7.1 and B7.2 are important regulators of T-cell activation and inflammatory reactions, however, their contribution in obesity-related AT and liver low-grade inflammation is poorly characterized.Methods: Mice sufficient or deficient in B7.1 an...