Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Obesity is a disease with disastrous health, social and economic consequence. There is presently a global epidemic of obesity in all age groups and in both developed and developing countries. Understanding the nutrient and chemical sensing mechanisms in the gastro-intestinal tract (GIT) which act to trigger gut hormone release and appetite after food consumption is crucial to be able to devise effective methods to reduce and prevent obesity. Recently, the sweet tas...

WF a 52 year old female was referred to the Hammersmith Hospital in August 2001 for further investigation of her persistently elevated fasted gut hormones (GIH) [all previously assayed at the Hammersmith Hospital]. WF was initially diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome 16 years ago. Following an exacerbation of her condition 9 years ago, fasting gut hormones were performed, which showed gross elevation of all peptides measured.The possibility of a neuroendocrine tumour was p...

Kisspeptin produced by placenta is involved in the regulation of early placental development. Aberrant placental development and placental dysfunction are common in pregnancies with diabetes and hypertension. Parameters of fetal growth, feto-placental circulation, pregnancy outcome, placental weight and morphology were recorded and correlated with kisspeptin levels in pregnant women with diabetes (chronic insulin dependent-IDDM and gestational-GD) and hypertension (chronic-H, ...

Galanin-like peptide (GALP) is a novel peptide isolated from the porcine hypothalamus. Within the hypothalamus GALP mRNA is confined to the arcuate nucleus from which GALP immunoreactive fibres project to the medial preoptic area. Previous studies indicate that GALP may be regulated by leptin. Intracerebroventricular administration of GALP has been shown to stimulate luteinising hormone release. Low circulating levels of leptin lead to the down regulation of the hypothalamic-p...

Peptide YY(3-36) (PYY(3-36)) is secreted from endocrine L-cells of the gastrointestinal tract and is thought to induce post-prandial satiety by inhibiting the release of neuropeptide Y (NPY) in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus via the hypothalamic neuropeptide Y2 receptor (Y2R). NPY mRNA expression in the hypothalamus is markedly increased with fasting. Therefore, we investigated the effect of intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of PYY(3-36) (120ug/kg) on food intake vers...

Background: PYY is a gut hormone that physiologically inhibits appetite. Currently only radioimmunoassay (RIA) techniques are available for its estimation. The aim of the study was to evaluate our in-house assay for precision, detection limit, interference of haemolysis, suitability of serum versus plasma and biological variation within one subject.Method: All samples were obtained from one subject on two occasions following an over night fast and the co...

Cocaine and amphetamine regulated transcript (CART) is a hypothalamic neuropeptide with a role in the hypothalamo-pituitary adrenal axis (HPA) in rodents. However, the role of pituitary CART is poorly understood. Previous work in rodents has shown pituitary CART is regulated by corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) and glucocorticoids. CRH increased pituitary CART release fifteen-fold. Adrenalectomised rats had significantly higher pituitary CART mRNA expression, pituitary CA...

BACKGROUND: The reason for reduction in appetite following gastro intestinal bypass procedures in man and in animal models remains unclear. Rats following jejunum intestinal bypass eat significantly less compared to sham operated rats and this seem due to a transferable factor in plasma. Such a humoral factor may be a therapeutic option for obesity. PYY, produced from the distal small bowel and colon is elevated in man and rodents following small bowel resection and ilial bypa...

The CNS and gut derived peptide Neuromedin U (NMU) has been shown to inhibit feeding following intracerebroventricular (ICV) injection. The present study aimed to further explore the hypothalamic actions of NMU. ICV NMU-23 (1nmol), but not truncated NMU-8, significantly inhibited feeding (1h food intake: 3.8 plus/minus 0.4g vs saline 5.4 plus/minus 0.6g, p <0.05). Following micro-injection into 8 hypothalamic areas, NMU-23 potently inhibited feeding in the PVN (1h food int...

Background: The hypothalamus is a critical area of the brain involved in the regulation of appetite. Cerebellin1 (Cbln1) is a highly conserved 16 amino acid neuropeptide. High levels of Cbln1 mRNA expression are found in specific hypothalamic areas involved in appetite regulation.Aim: To examine the effects of Cbln1 on food intake in rodents.Methods: 1. Ad libitum fed rats were injected intracerebroventricularly (ICV) with Cbln1 (1...