Endocrine Abstracts

In the clinic, glucocorticoids are widely used due to their anti-inflammatory properties. Despite their huge benefits, prolonged use is often associated with severe side effects as well as the development of glucocorticoid resistance in some cases. Mutations in an important SWI/SNF subunit, ARID1a, have previously been linked to glucocorticoid resistance and are associated with a vast number of human cancers. Determining the functional role of ARID1a...

In the clinic, glucocorticoids are widely used due to their anti-inflammatory properties. Despite their huge benefits, prolonged use is often associated with severe side effects as well as the development of glucocorticoid resistance in some cases. Mutations in an important SWI/SNF subunit, ARID1a, have previously been linked to glucocorticoid resistance and are associated with a vast number of human cancers. Determining the functional role of ARID1a...

Endogenous glucocorticoids are secreted in hourly pulses, establishing a characteristic ultradian rhythm. Accordingly, the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is activated in distinct pulses, causing target-gene pulsing. In contrast, constant glucocorticoid treatment causes aberrant target-gene overexpression in cell culture models, however this has not yet been described in vivo. Therefore, here we assess the effect of altering the glucocorticoid ultradian pattern on transc...

Ultradian glucocorticoid (GC) secretion is highly conserved, having been detected in all species studied. The GC corticosterone (CORT) is a ligand for the glucocorticoid receptor (GR), inducing GR recruitment to glucocorticoid responsive elements (GREs) to modulate transcription of GC-target genes. We have previously demonstrated that pulsatile GR recruitment to GREs upstream of the Period1 gene is associated with its pulsatile transcription in rat liver. Similarly th...

Glucocorticoids act via the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). Upon ligand binding, GR translocates to the nucleus and binds directly to glucocorticoid responsive elements (GREs) to regulate transcriptional output. Glucocorticoid secretion increases in response to stress to affect transcriptional output within specific areas of the brain including the hippocampus (HC). Therefore, here we assess changes in genome-wide GR chromatin binding profiles in the rat HC in response to a gluc...