Endocrine Abstracts

Purpose: Skeletal muscle has been recognized as a thyroid hormones (THs) target for contractile function, regeneration, metabolism and glucose disposal. Despite a role in regulating muscle development has been described, little is known about the role of THs in regulating muscle homeostasis in a pathological state such as food deprivation induced atrophy. The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether thyroid hormones may hamper the fasting induced skeletal muscle atrophy an...

Background: Skeletal muscle is known to be a target of THs, regulating oxygen consumption, fiber composition, calcium mobilization and glucose uptake. However, a possible role for THs in muscle homeostasis and cellular metabolism under pathological has never been investigated. Food deprivation induces skeletal muscle atrophy, causing metabolic changes, and forcing the tissue to utilize fatty acid as the main oxidation substrate. Aim of this project was to understand whether T3...

It is clinically evident that women suffering from thyroid disorders are associated with frequent occurrence of menstrual disturbances and impaired fertility, and these abnormalities are improved by restoring the euthyroid state. The exact mechanism for such reproductive aberrations is not well known; however, it is conceivable that thyroid hormones might have a direct role in ovarian physiology via receptors in granulosa cells. We evaluated the effect of thyroid hormones (T<s...

Thyroid hormone action, widely recognized on cell proliferation and metabolism, has recently been related to the phosphoinositide 3 kinase (PI3K), an upstream regulator of the Akt kinase and the involvement of the thyroid hormone receptor β1 has been hypothesized. The serine-threonine kinase Akt can regulate various substrates that drive cell mass, proliferation and survival. Its action has also been characterized in pancreatic β-cells. We previously demonstrated tha...