Endocrine Abstracts

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare tumor with poor prognosis due to its highly malignant phenotype and lack of effective treatment options.The etiology of ACC is still unknown. To better understand the pathogenesis of this type of tumor and to determine differentially abundant proteins and candidate biomarkers for adrenal cancer diagnosis and prognosis, we used a novel approach based on two-dimensional differential gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE). Pr...

Metabolic pathologies mainly originate from dysfunctions of the white adipose tissue (AT). Functional differences in AT and their impact on metabolism seem associated with the fat depot regional distribution, in particular the subcutaneous (SAT) and visceral (VAT) pads. Human adult adipose stem cell (ASC) populations have recently been characterized from SAT and VAT. In this study, using human ASC cultures obtained from paired biopsies of abdominal SAT, S-ASC, and VAT, V-ASC, ...

Objectives: Hypogonadism is often associated with diabetes mellitus and both conditions represent major risk factors for erectile dysfunction (ED). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of diabetes-induced hypogonadism on ED using two distinct animal models: alloxan-rabbits and streptozotocin (STZ)-rats.Methods: A subgroup of diabetic animals was Testosterone (T) replaced. After 8 weeks from induction of diabetes, erectile function was evaluat...

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare aggressive tumor with a poor prognosis. At present, early diagnosis followed by total surgical tumor resection is the only valuable option for ACC cure and mitotane (MTT) is the only specific drug available for pharmacological treatment. However, its effects seem to be mainly due to its adrenocortical cytotoxicity and its bioavailability and cellular mechanism of action are still unknown, making it difficult to develop less toxic multid...

Chronic low-grade inflammatory condition is associated with metabolic pathologies such as obesity. However, the role exerted by local inflammation occurring in different fat depots, such as subcutaneous (SAT) versus visceral (VAT) adipose tissue (AT), is still under evaluation. Aim of the present study was to characterize the inflammatory state in adipose tissue of obese (OB: n=58, mean±S.D. BMI=47±9) vs normoweight (NOR: n=28, mean±...

Objectives: Radical prostatectomy is an effective therapy for clinically localized prostate cancer. A significant number of men develops post-prostatectomy erectile dysfunction (PPED), due to surgery-related nervous damage. PPED is relatively refractory to PDE5i therapy. In a rat model of bilateral cavernous neurotomy we evaluated whether chronic tadalafil treatment (CTT) could ameliorate anatomical and functional damage to corpora cavernosa (CC).Methods...