Endocrine Abstracts

GH influences multiple metabolic pathways. Excess GH (acromegaly) causes a distinct form of cardiomyopathy, which may progress to fulminant heart failure. AMPK is an energy conservation enzyme that modulates multiple areas of the cell stress response, inhibiting anabolism and promoting catabolism. AMPK is activated by phosphorylation at Thr172 and measurement of Thr172 phosphorylation is thought to correlate with enzyme activity. We investigated the influence of GH on cardiac ...

GH is an important anabolic hormone involved in the regulation of longitudinal bone growth. However, acromegaly patients have a higher prevalence of vertebral fractures despite normal bone mineral density (BMD), suggesting that overexpression of GH has adverse effects on skeletal architecture and strength. We used giant bovine GH (bGH) transgenic mice to analyse the effects of high serum GH levels on bone architecture and mechanical strength. Five month-old hemizygous male bGH...

Patients with growth hormone deficiency (GHD) have many clinical features in common with Cushing’s syndrome (glucocorticoid excess) - notably visceral obesity, insulin resistance, osteoporosis and increased vascular mortality. Within key metabolic tissues, 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD1) converts cortisone to the active glucocorticoid, cortisol, and thus amplifies local glucocorticoid action. We hypothesise that 11β-HSD1 expression is neg...