Endocrine Abstracts

Bone development, remodeling and repair are metabolically very demanding processes. Chondrogenic and osteogenic cells are highly anabolic as they have a high proliferation rate and produce a substantial amount of extracellular matrix. Not only hormones and growth factors control these processes, but recent evidence shows that cell metabolism might also regulate skeletal cell properties. Adequate nutrient supply and metabolic pathways are certainly essential to prevent an energ...

Introduction: Pubertal sex steroids are indispensable for peak bone mass acquisition as well as skeletal sexual dimorphism. In males, both androgen receptor (AR) and estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) are required for optimal periosteal cortical bone expansion, while estrogens limit bone size in females. In early puberty, estrogens directly stimulate longitudinal growth via ERα in cartilage, but also indirectly via growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF...

Introduction: Vitamin D (VD) is metabolized locally in the testis, and ablation of the VD receptor (Vdr−/−) in mice has proven a valid model for hereditary VD resistant rickets. However, only one of three published Vdr−/− strains presented with male infertility. Here, we investigated reproductive hormones, gene expression and the testicular histological phenotype of male Vdr−/−mice,...