Endocrine Abstracts

We have recently shown that patients with growth hormone (GH) excess (acromegaly) exhibit inadequately low intrahepatic lipid content (IHL) despite marked insulin resistance. GH might increase mitochondrial oxidation capacity thereby counteracting ectopic lipid accumulation; however, up-regulation of mitochondrial function has been reported in early stages of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Up to now, data on mitochondrial activity in patients with acromegaly are missing.</...

Background: Growth hormone (GH) plays an important role in modifying body composition. In acromegaly, a state of chronic GH/IGF-I excess, visceral and ectopic fat mass, especially in the liver, are significantly reduced. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of GH/IGF-I on hepatocellular lipid content (HCL) and energy metabolism in a non-acromegalic cohort of patients with and without non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).Methods: We pe...