Endocrine Abstracts

Growth hormone (GH) is regulated by two antagonistic hypothalamic hormones, GHRH and somatostatin, plus the liver-derived hormone IGF-I and metabolic signals. Then GH actions are implicated on somatic growth and in the regulation of general metabolism.Developed in the seventies of past century, GH secretagogues (GHS) are small artificial molecules, either peptidyl or non-peptidyl, who actively discharge GH in all animal species so far studied and through...

In the prevalence of obesity has increased worldwide reaching 30% of the adult population in some countries. Direct and inferential evidences show that this excess of body fat is associated with adverse health consequences, and that even a modest 5 to 10% weight loss results in substantial improvement in health. Considering the limited efficacy of the so-called ‘life style’ interventions based on diet plus exercise in the obese subjects, and that bariatric surgery is...

Background: The SAGIT® instrument, designed to assist clinicians in staging and managing acromegaly, is undergoing validation. A descriptive analysis of SAGIT Validation study baseline data revealed discrepancies between investigator-evaluated disease-control status, disease activity, hormonal control, and treatment decisions in acromegaly.Objective: To describe the baseline characteristics of patients in the SAGIT® valida...

Introduction: Human recombinant growth hormone (hrGH) treatment in adult patients with GH deficiency (GHD) has an important interindividual variability and several factors can influence it. The aims of the study were: i)- to analyze the genotype of GHR regarding exon 3 deletion (d3-GHR) in a serie of adult patients with GHD; ii)- to assess the effect of d3-GHR on initial IGF1 levels; iii)- to evaluate if d3-GHR and/or initial IGF1 levels were associated with adverse effects an...

ITT is the test of reference for the diagnosis of adult GH deficiency (GHD), but it is recognized that also GHRH in combination with arginine (ARG) or GH secretagogues (GHS) are equally reliable tests. It has also been suggested that testing with GHS would represent a potent stimulus exploring also the integrity of hypothalamic pathways controlling somatotropic function. We therefore aimed to clarify the diagnostic reliability of testing with ghrelin, the natural GHS. We studi...

Obesity protects from osteoporosis. Bone remodeling and energy metabolism could be regulated by the adipocyte-derived hormone, leptin acting on osteoblasts though hypothalamic pathways. Hypothalamic lesions cause obesity. Since most of these patients are also hypopituitary with low IGF1 which could affect bone metabolism the aim of our study was to investigate whether obesity would protect them from osteoporosis.Three groups of patients were studied: (1)...

Of the ~12 500 GH treated subjects with adult-onset GH deficiency (GHD) in KIMS (Pfizer International Metabolic Database), 3744 with multiple pituitary hormone deficiencies (MPHD) and 367 (9%) with isolated GHD (iGHD) were eligible for baseline analysis. Subjects met the following inclusion criteria: 1) never received GH prior to entry in KIMS, 2) had stimulation tests with insulin or glucagon (GH<3 μg/l), arginine (GH<0.4 μg/l), or arginine+GHRH (cut-offs ba...

Ghrelin and GHRH are two hormones involved in the growth hormone (GH) secretion through their respective receptors. The growth hormone secretagogue receptor subtype 1a (GHS-R1a) is involved in biological actions exerted by ghrelin triggering intracellular second messengers coupled to Gαq/11 protein. In this work, we analyzed the possible interaction between GHRH and GHS-R1a as well as the subsequent intracellular pathways. The results showed that GHRH induced, ...

Introduction: Recent advances in medicine have allowed a considerably decrease in mortality after traumatic brain injury (TBI) with the consequent increment in the number of subjects with physical, psychological and cognitive sequelas which means an important worsening of quality of life as well as difficulties in social and labour integration. Considering that many of the symptoms classically attributed to the TBI (memory impairment, concentration impairment, fatigue, social ...

Ghrelin is a pleiotropic hormone characterized mainly by its strong orexigenic action and its role as GH secretagogue.Age-related level variation of this hormone has been previously shown in different studies centred in mARN expression and in its plasma levels; however there is no data about its secretion directly from the stomach although this is the main ghrelin producing organ.Objectives: To determine the levels of ghrelin in th...