Endocrine Abstracts

Insulin is a major endocrine hormone able to regulate whole-body energy disposal and lipid metabolism. Particularly, insulin stimulates the renewal of the adipose tissue (AT) via activation of insulin receptors (IR) consisting of two splicing variants: a short isoform (IRa) involved in cell proliferation, and a long isoform (IRb) mainly implicated in metabolic responses. The contribution of these isoforms to the AT expansion is still poorly understood. We investigated the expr...

Low levels of testosterone and SHBG levels are often present in subjects with overweight and obesity; functional hypogonadism further alters the metabolic balance and may drag subjects in a sort of vicious cycle, reducing exercise and energy expenditure. The very low-calorie ketogenic diet (VLCKD) has been reported to rapidly reduce body weight, glycaemia and insulinemia, but its effects on total testosterone (TT) and SHBG levels are less clear. We thus aimed to evaluate the r...