Endocrine Abstracts

The adrenal cortex produces aldosterone, cortisol and adrenal androgens. ACTH regulates the production of both cortisol and adrenal androgens. However there are physiological and pathophysiological conditions where the production of these steroids is divergent. We examined the effect angiotension II (A-II) and insulin on the relative production of cortisol and adrenal androgens in the human adrenal H-295 cell line. We determined the ability of these secretogogues to regulate t...

The adrenal cortex produces aldosterone, cortisol and adrenal androgens in response to secretogogues including ACTH, angiotensin II(A-II) and insulin. Differential regulation of adrenal steroids is through the modulation of specific key steroidogenic enzymes. The capacity of the adrenal to produce cortisol is controlled in part by the transcription of 3beta-hydroxysteroiddehydrogenase (3beta HSD) and production of adrenal androgens by 17 hydroxylase/17-20 lyase (CYP17). Protei...

The differential diagnosis of post-partum thyrotoxicosis includes Graves' disease and post-partum thyroiditis(PPT). We present two cases which demonstrate the difficulty of interpreting 99mTc-pertechnetate scans in this setting. Case 1 is a 37 year-old lady who presented 5 months post-partum with a month history of palpitations, sweating and heat intolerance. Investigations revealed TSH < 0.01 mU/L, fT3 8.9 pmol/L (NR 10.5-22.7 pmol/L) and fT4 23.4 pmol/L (NR 3.5-6.5 pmol/)...