Endocrine Abstracts

By including the synthetic glucocorticoid (GC), dexamethasone, in the maternal drinking water on gestational days 16–19 (0.5 μg/ml) or days 1–7 after birth (1.0 μg/ml), we have recently demonstrated (McArthur et al. J. Neuroendocrinol. 17: 475) that perinatal exposure of rat pups to GCs increased dopaminergic (DA) cell numbers in the adult ventral tegmental area (VTA) at −5.1 to −5.4 mm relative to Bregma (level I). In order to investig...

Epidemiological and clinical studies provide evidence for sex differences in the incidence or severity of certain neurological conditions. For example Parkinson's disease, which is characterised by a progressive degeneration of dopaminergic (DA) neurones in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) and a reduction in DA levels in the striatum, is more prevalent in men than women. Therefore, our work aimed to establish whether physiological levels of sex steroid hormones confer ...

There is now substantial evidence to suggest that the early life environment can have a permanent effect on adult physiology. Recently we have shown that early postnatal glucocorticoid (GC) exposure produces alterations in midbrain dopaminergic cell number in the adult rat, in a gender-specific manner (McArthur et al., Brit. Neurosci. Assoc. Abstr. 2003;17:27). Since the protein annexin 1 (ANXA1) mediates some aspects of the effects of GCs within the immune system and the hypo...

It is well documented that inappropriate exposure to glucocorticoids (GCs) in early life stunts growth and predisposes the individual to metabolic disorders, including type 2 diabetes. Evidence suggests that these programming actions involve alterations in GC receptor expression. However, the precise mechanisms remain to be determined. As GCs are known to modify both the neuroendocrine control of growth hormone (GH) secretion and the peripheral effects of GH on growth and meta...

Exposure to high levels of glucocorticoids (GCs) at critical stages in development is thought to compromise immune function in adulthood (1), but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Accordingly, we have examined the effects of perinatal dexamethasone treatment on the expression in the adult thymus of (a) inducible nitric oxide synthase (NOS-2, paradoxically also expressed constitutively in the thymus) which liberates NO, a factor involved in the negative selection...