Endocrine Abstracts

Fractures are associated with suffering and increased mortality in patients and great costs for society. It is well established that sex steroids are important regulators of skeletal growth and bone metabolism and estrogen is known to protect against bone loss and prevent fractures. Estrogen not only protects the female skeleton, but is also associated with bone mass and fracture risk in the male skeleton. However, the use of this hormone as a therapeutic drug against bone los...

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...