Endocrine Abstracts

Epidemiological studies have shown that infants of low birth weight show poor neonatal growth and increased susceptibility to adult diseases such as diabetes in later life. Pigs provide an ideal model to examine the influence of size at birth due to the natural variance in piglet weight within a litter. This study examined whether birth weight influences the expression of UCP3 and it's regulation by thyroid hormones in neonatal pigs.Piglets from 11 litte...

Leptin, the 16 kDa product of the obese gene, and uncoupling proteins (UCP) are both involved in energy expenditure. Piglets have recently been shown to express UCP2, it has been speculated that the induction of UCP2 in adipose tissue by leptin may stimulate thermogenesis. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of leptin administration on body temperature, leptin and UCP2 mRNA. Ten Meishan sows gave birth naturally at term and siblings were paired by birth weight ...

It is well established that neonatal mortality is greater in the leaner commercial (C) porcine genotypes compared to the ancient Meishan (M) breed, which has a higher percentage of body fat. Piglets do not express UCP1, responsible for heat production in neonatal mammals, although they do express UCP2. The aim of this study was to investigate the endocrine and metabolic control of UCP2 expression between the C and M genotypes.Piglets from 15 C and 15 M l...

Neonatal mortality is greater in the leaner commercial porcine genotypes compared to the Meishan breed. Leptin is a 16 kDa protein involved in energy regulation, a number of studies have demonstrated leptin’s presence in maternal milk. Meishan sows have a significantly higher body fat content than commercial pigs, but it is unknown whether they produce more leptin in milk. The extent to which this dietary supply provides the neonate with leptin and any effects on growth a...

A 62 year old woman presented in May 2001 with a one year history of palpitations. A 24 hour tape showed a short run of supra ventricular tachycardia only.In December 2001 she was admitted with palpitations, presyncope and a labile blood pressure. Systolic pressures of 150-186mmHg and diastolic pressures of 95-112mmHg were recorded. 24 hour urine collection for catecholamines revealed normal adrenaline levels but elevated noradrenaline at 5265 nanomols p...

A 62 year old woman presented in May 2001 with a one year history of palpitations. A 24 hour tape showed a short run of supra ventricular tachycardia only.In December 2001 she was admitted with palpitations, presyncope and a labile blood pressure. Systolic pressures of 150-186mmHg and diastolic pressures of 95-112mmHg were recorded. 24 hour urine collection for catecholamines revealed normal adrenaline levels but elevated noradrenaline at 5265 nanomols p...

The nuclear receptor PPARgamma is important for biological processes including adipogenesis and glucose homeostasis. In subjects with severe insulin resistance, we have previously reported two types of human PPARgamma gene defect: heterozygous, missense mutations (P467L, V290M) in the ligand binding domain (LBD) which inhibit wild type (WT) receptor action in a dominant negative manner by recruitment of transcriptional corepressors; or double heterozygosity for a frameshift/pr...