Endocrine Abstracts

Context: Obesity is accompanied by blunted GH secretion but relatively normal serum IGF-I levels, which suggests increased GH sensitivity. This, however, remains to be tested at the level of GH signaling in human subjects.Objective: To compare the effects of an acute intravenous GH bolus in obese vs normal weight subjects on GH signaling pathways in adipose and muscle tissue, substrate metabolism and insulin sensitivity.Subjects an...

Background: Growth Hormone (GH) reversibly suppresses insulin-stimulated glucose uptake in skeletal muscle, but less is known about GH effects on glucose metabolism in the basal state. Somatostatin suppresses GH as well as insulin, and may also exert direct effects in skeletal muscle. This may have therapeutic implications in the treatment of acromegalic patients with a somatostatin analogue (SA).Aim: To study basal and insulin-stimulated glucose metabol...

Background and aim: Insulin resistance is associated with type 2 diabetes and obesity but recent studies suggest that it may also be associated with type 1 diabetes (T1D), which may affect glycemic control. Hypoglycemia is a dreaded condition among patients with T1D and may also limit optimal glycemic management. We aimed to investigate insulin sensitivity and metabolic adaptions in healthy control subjects and T1D subjects.Material and methods: <!--SUB:...

Throughout evolution survival of humanity has relied on the ability to cope with stress, such as fasting, exercise, injury and inflammation. In general these conditions generate a metabolic stress response with release of stress hormones (adrenaline, glucagon, cortisol and growth hormone(GH)) and mobilisation of all major fuel sources - lipids, protein and carbohydrate. In addition bacterial ingredients (eg endotoxin/lipopolysaccharide (LPS)) and cytokines (TNF-alfa, interleuk...

Background: To avoid the serious complications of diabetes glucose control must be tackled aggressively in type 2 diabetes. However some patients with type 2 diabetes are severely insulin resistant and although they are treated with large doses of insulin their blood glucose is still not optimally controlled.Aim: This project aims to determine the dose–response to insulin in patients with type 2 diabetes and severe insulin resistance.<p class="a...

Background: The impact of GH on insulin sensitivity is ambiguous since both long standing GH-deficiency as well as acute GH exposure and prolonged GH-excess are associated with insulin resistance.Aim: To test the hypotheses that the insulin antagonistic effect of GH i) is dynamic and depend on ambient GH levels and ii) subsides gradually with time after GH exposure.Methods: Eight GHDA participated in a randomised crossover study. E...

Context and objective: During fasting growth hormone (GH) promotes lipolysis, attenuates glucose oxidation and preserves protein. Previous studies have primarily been conducted in GH deficient patients or during somatostatin-suppression of GH secretion. We aimed to study the impact of the fasting associated increase in GH without concomitant changes in other hormones, by the means of GH receptor (GHR) blockade.Design: Ten healthy young men participated i...

Context: An interaction between gut-derived ghrelin, which is implicated in the regulation of short- and long-term energy balance, and thyroid function has previously been reported in patients with hyperthyroidism, in whom ghrelin levels are reversibly suppressed. In the present study, we measured total serum ghrelin levels and pertinent metabolic indices in hypothyroid patients before end after L-thyroxin replacement.Patients and methods:...

Background: Somatostatin analogue treatment (SA) is used in acromegaly to suppress GH secretion and tumour growth. In addition, SA also suppresses insulin secretion and may impact on GH signalling in peripheral tissues.Objective: To compare GH and insulin signalling in skeletal muscle and adipose tissue in vivo before and after a single exogenous GH bolus in patients with acromegaly controlled by either surgery alone or by ongoing treatment with a slow-r...

Objective: The short-term cardiovascular effects of continuous ghrelin infusion in healthy humans remain to be studied.Methods: Fifteen healthy, young and normal-weight men volunteered to participate in a randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over study. The local ethics committee approved the study. We used a constant infusion of human ghrelin at a rate of 5 pmol/kg body weight per minute for 180 minutes and measured peak left ventricular my...