Endocrine Abstracts

Maternal cold exposure induced by winter shearing promotes fetal growth, particularly that of the liver by increasing maternal glucose supply to the fetus. A major component of the fetal liver is glycogen which is rapidly mobilized at birth in order to provide an endogenous energy source. Hepatic glyocgen content is regulated in part by the lipid activated transcription factor, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARα), whilst insulin-like growth factor (IG...

Fetal adipose tissue growth is a coordinated process involving the growth hormone-insulin-like growth factor (GH-IGF) axis. Maternal cold exposure (CE) induced by winter shearing can promote fetal fat growth depending on maternal food. The following study examined the interaction between maternal CE and dietary intake on the mRNA abundance for the endogenous ligand of the GH secretagogue receptor (GHSR-1a), the IGF-I and II receptors and the enzyme glycerol-3-phosphatase (G3P)...

Ghrelin is a recently discovered endogenous ligand of the Growth Hormone (GH) secretagogue receptor, and is primarily produced by the stomach. Ghrelin acts on the hypothalamic-pituitary axis to stimulate GH release and may determine hepatic sensitivity of Insulin-like Growth Factor-I (IGF-I) to GH. Maternal chronic cold exposure by winter shearing has shown to increase lamb birth weight, however, the effects on Ghrelin are not yet known.Twenty-six multip...

Maternal nutrient restriction at specific gestational stages compromises fetal growth and development, in particular, fetal adipose tissue deposition. The extent to which nutritional supplementation can promote growth and development of specific fetal organs is unknown. This study aimed to determine whether protein supplementation of the maternal diet at defined stages of gestation promoted the abundance of the key mitochondrial proteins; uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1), cytochrom...