Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: 11β-HSD1 is the key enzyme of intracellular glucocorticoid regulation by converting inactive cortisone to active cortisol. The latter binds to the glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) in the heart. Cortisol excess in Cushing’s syndrome leads to left ventricular hypertrophy. Also androgens cause myocardial remodelling. However, the impact of testosterone on the cardiovascular system is strongly disputed showing beneficial and deleterious ef...

Selenium (Se) is indispensable for enzymatic activities of glutathione peroxidases (GPx) involved in antioxidative defense and deiodinase isozymes (Dio) that control thyroid hormone (TH) action. Se deficiency can impact negatively on thyroid galnd funtioning and TH metabolism and thereby perturb development and metabolism. We have generated Se-deficient mice by genetic inactivation of Selenoprotein P (SePP), the main plasma Se carrier. SePP-KO mice display decreased serum and ...

Animal models are valuable tools in fertility research. Worldwide, there are more than 1000 transgenic or knockout mouse models available showing a reproductive phenotype; almost all of them exhibit an infertile or at least subfertile phenotype. By contrast, animal models revealing an improved fertility phenotype are barely described. We developed two outbred mouse models exhibiting a ‘high-fertility’ phenotype. These mouse lines were generated via selection over a t...