Endocrine Abstracts

Maternal obesity during pregnancy is associated with several metabolic impairments in offspring, some of them evidenced from early infancy. Some reports have demonstrated that offspring of obese rats, whose obesity was induced by high fat diet consumption, have an increase sympathetic tone and increased norepinephrine (NE) content in kidney, liver and ovary. We recently reported that maternal administration of metformin prevents the increase in ovarian NE in offspring when the...

Kisspeptin is found in the ovary of different species including human and rat. We have recently described, through in vitro studies, that kisspeptin is under the control of sympathetic innervation of the ovary. Considering that ovarian activity of sympathetic nerves increases with ageing, it is possible that the ovarian kisspeptin also increases during this period. As a role of kisspeptin in folliculogenesis has been postulated, this increase in kisspeptin could parti...

Obesity epidemic is one of the major concerns in the world. Worryingly, a high percentage of pregnant women have obesity, which could imply several consequences. Maternal obesity leads to different abnormalities in pregnancy and delivery. In addition, recent studies show that the offspring of obese mothers has an increased probability to suffer cardiovascular, metabolic and reproductive diseases. We have previously demonstrated that exposure to a high fat diet is related to ob...

Obesity during gestation has been related to predisposition to endocrine and metabolic diseases in the offspring. Regarding reproductive effects, an increase in BMI in pregnant mothers is associated with precocious puberty in their offspring. This has been replicated in animal models of high fat diet (HFD) administration to mothers. Also, gestational obesity has been associated to higher susceptibility to developing breast cancer in the offspring. As both precocious puberty an...

Childhood obesity has become a major health problem, which is coupled to different adverse outcomes and diseases. The escalating prevalence of child obesity parallels that of alterations in pubertal timing, also linked to higher disease burden later on life. Yet, the mechanisms underlying for this association remain unfolded. Ceramides, ubiquitous signaling molecules involved in numerous biological processes, have emerged as mediators of metabolic disorders and transmitters fo...