Endocrine Abstracts

In women, establishment of pregnancy is dependent upon ‘fine-tuning’ of the endometrial microenvironment which is mediated by differentiation (decidualisation) of human endometrial stromal fibroblasts (hESF). Using a robust in vitro model of decidualisation we have demonstrated an important role for local steroid metabolism in regulating hESF, something previously considered a solely endocrine-mediated process. We have conducted detailed time-course profilin...

Thyroid hormone is critically important for many developmental processes. However, less is known about how this hormone elicits its actions, a question that becomes more puzzling given that that distinct target tissues respond in different ways and often at different times. How does this systemic hormonal signal elicit its diverse responses? Targeted mutagenesis of thyroid hormone receptors (TR) encoded by the Thrb and Thra genes has indicated that some specifici...

There have always been conversations between clinicians about management and potential referral of patients, predominately from primary care to specialists. This has been called variously ‘advice and guidance (A&G)’, ‘specialist advice’ or ‘advice and refer’ by NHS England (NHSE). In the last few years, A&G has become increasingly relevant with escalating clinic pressures and is now part of the NHSE/GIRFT ‘elective care recovery and t...

Central dopamine and oxytocin have been shown in many studies to facilitate aspects of male sexual function. However, it is poorly understood how these two neuromodulators interact to mediate sexual behaviour or which receptors are involved. Much evidence has recently implicated a role for the dopamine D2 receptor in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and supraoptic nucleus (SON) in regulating aspects of male sexual behaviour. Using Sprague-Dawley male rats (225–250 g), we...

Oxytocin drives parturition by contracting the uterus, but transgenic mice with no oxytocin appear to give birth normally. We have previously shown that oxytocin antagonist administration delays births showing that oxytocin plays a role in normal mouse parturition. Here, we tested the hypothesis that oxytocin neurones are active during parturition, using double immunocytochemistry for Fos and oxytocin to show neuronal activation and radioimmunoassay of blood samples to seek in...

Introduction: Adolescence is recognised as a period where compliance to diabetes treatment is challenging and adolescents assume increasing responsibility for their diabetes self-management. In this study we investigated whether giving modest financial rewards motivated teenagers with type 1 diabetes to improve glycaemic control.Methods: Population; young people with type 1 diabetes, age 13–16 years at entry, duration of diabetes of >2 years and...

Loss of muscle mass is associated with ageing and several degenerative pathological conditions which limit movement and critically impair quality of life. One key regulator of muscle mass is myostatin which inhibits muscle growth. In circulation, myostatin is bound to follistatin-like 3 (FSTL3) in an inactive complex. FSTL3 is a natural, soluble regulator of myostatin along with follistatin (FST) and myostatin propeptide. In the FSTL3 gene deleted mouse (FSTL3 KO), however, to...

We have shown that Type I IFN paradoxically inhibits autoimmune diabetes in the NOD mouse and BB rat. We assessed the structure function relationship and potential mechanism of this interferon action by determining: (1) the diabetes sparing effect of several type 1 IFNs: recombinant human IFN-A/D bgl 11 (rIFN-alpha), rIFN-alphaB/D, rIFN-alpha-consensus (CIFN), IFN-taumod1 in NOD mice (2) the effect of IFN-tau administration in IL-4 KO and IFN-gamma KO NOD mice (3) the effect o...

Although, high doses of cyclosporine (cyclo)has been demonstrated to inhibit the development of type 1diabetes mellitus (T1D), its usefulness was limited by its toxicity. Since methotrexate (Mtx) and cyclo have been shown to synergistically act in other disease processes, we determined if low dose cyclo and Mtx therapy could inhibit the development of diabetes and reduce or eliminate the need for insulin therapy in a pilot study.Methods: Insulin dose and...

Each year ∼700 patients undergo orthotopic liver transplant (OLT) in the UK. With excellent outcomes reported (1 and 5 year survivals of 90% and 70% respectively) increasing attention is paid to ensuring long-term wellbeing after transplantation. A large proportion of patients are diagnosed with osteoporosis and risk of fracture in the post-transplant period may be as high as 30% following transplant. The exact aetiology of this increase in fracture risk is unclear, alth...