Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Prolactin (PRL) acting through its receptor may play a role in regulating fetal BAT development. Chronic administration of prolactin to the dam throughout pregnancy enhances the maturation of BAT with the resulting offspring having more UCP-1 suggesting a direct role in switching on UCP1 at birth. The present study aimed to determine the effect of PRL on UCP-1 expression postnatally.Methods: Twenty seven female and twenty four male rats wer...

The pituitary is an anatomically well protected endocrine gland in permanent contact with the central nervous system. Although it was known that pituitary has plasticity in response to the physiological demands of the body, there were few clear data about the post-natal mechanisms in charge of this plasticity. The discovery of a group of cells expressing stem cell markers precisely organized in the outer zone of the adenopituitary open up new possibilities to explain the const...

Ghrelin is a peptide hormone secreted by the stomach with orexigenic properties that induce food intake trough the activation of hypothalamic AMP activated kinase (AMPK). In rodents fed on normal diet the central administration of ghrelin induces an increase in food intake, however, when fed a high fat diet (HFD) rodents are resistant to the orexigenic effect of ghrelin. Recent data show that Cidea interacts with AMPK β-subunit and promotes AMPK degradation trough ubiquit...

Introduction: Smokers around the globe commonly report increased body weight after smoking cessation as a major factor that interferes with their attempts to quit. In addition, numerous controlled studies in both humans and rodents have reported that nicotine exerts a marked anorectic action. Nicotine’s effects on energy homeostasis have been mostly pinpointed in the central nervous system, but the molecular mechanisms controlling its action are still not fully understood...

Introduction: About 30% of all familial isolated pituitary adenoma (FIPA) and 50% of acromegaly families have a mutation in the aryl hydrocarbon receptor-interacting protein gene (AIP; Chahal, TEM, 2010). The functional role of AIP in somatotroph cells is unknown. Recently, it has been proposed that wild type AIP (wtAIP) is a tumor suppressor gene, role that is lost in the different mutant AIPs (mAIP; Leontiou, JCEM, 2008). In the adenomas, mAIPs are usually foun...

Ghrelin is gastric peptide with appetite stimulating and growth hormone (GH) releasing properties. Circulating ghrelin levels decrease after nutrient ingestion, oral and iv glucose challenge. It has been hypothesized that vagal system may have a major role in initiating this decrease.The aim of this study was to investigate circulating ghrelin levels during oral glucose challenge in gastrectomized (GASTRX)- vagotomized patients. The study was approved by...

Normal linear growth in children is highly complex process, regulated by interaction of genetic, environmental and hormonal factors.We present four growth hormone deficient patients which despite severe growth hormone deficiency according to the provocative tests (ITT or GHRH+GHRP-6) and decreased IGF I level grew normally. This study was approved by Ethical Committee of University Clinical Center Belgrade. Three of our patients had idiopathic multiple p...

Posttreatment assessment of the disease activity and definition of cure of acromegaly, by measuring GH secretion, remains problematic. Furthermore, with our efforts to achieve tight biochemical control of the disease it is foreseeable that a proportion of patients may be rendered GH deficient (GHD). The aim of our study was to evaluate residual GH secretion in cured patients with acromegaly. The study was approved by the Hospital Ethical Committee and after informed consent, b...

Inhibin B is a product of the gonads and it is a marker for ovarian follicular development. We studied leptin, inhibin B and LH levels in two groups of patients with AN, at low weight (n=20, BMI=14.3 plus/minus 0.3 kg/m2) and after they reached goal weight and restore menstrual cycles (n=13, BMI 19.3 plus/minus 1.0 kg/m2). Nineteen eumenorrheic females (BMI 19.8 plus/minus 0.4 kg/m2) served as controls. At low weight in patients with AN, basal leptin (1.1 plus/minus 0.2 ng/L),...

The variables which might affect the reproductive function in recovered patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) were investigated. We studied 12 patients with partially (n=6) and fully recovered AN (n= 6). They were matched for age (22.5 plus/minus 1.8 vs. 23.2 plus/minus 1.7 yrs; p>0.05), body weight (50.3 plus/minus 2.1 vs. 56.7 plus/minus 2.3kg; p>0.05) and BMI (19.7 plus/minus 0.2 vs. 20.3 plus/minus 0.6 kg/m2, p>0.05). Partially recovered AN were amenorrhoeic while f...