Endocrine Abstracts

“Ligand” (or “binding”) assays – a class of methods of which for many years immunoassay long constituted the most widely used example – were first applied (in the late 50 s/early 60 s) to measurements of hormone concentrations in body fluids, but were later extended to the assay of other substances present in samples at low concentrations. This presentation reviews the main developments in this field, including those presently occurring (which...

Maternal hypothyroidism disrupts fetal brain development in the rat; affected parameters include several neuron-specific cytoskeletal proteins and neurotransmitter metabolic enzymes. The aim of this study was to determine whether maternal hyperthyroidism also impacts upon fetal neuronal development.Partially thyroidectomised rat dams were subcutaneously implanted with osmotic pumps to infuse either 1.5 micrograms thyroxine/100 g body weight/day (HYPER) o...

Almost 70 years after Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) was first described, its etiology remains unclear. In this preliminary study, gene expression in 3 normal and 3 PCOS ovaries was compared using differential display PCR to probe for genes with roles in the pathogenesis of PCOS.Over 1700 PCR products were detected with the 21 primer combinations used, each potentially derived from a different mRNA species. Pattern comparison of PCR products from norma...