Endocrine Abstracts

Insulin-resistant diabetes is characterised by progressive pancreatic β-cell dysfunction. Elevated pancreatic islet activity of the intracellular glucocorticoid amplifying enzyme 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD1) was hypothesized to drive this process in genetically obese rodents. To determine the direct effects of elevated 11β-HSD1 on β-cell function in diabetes in vivo we created a transgenic model overexpressing 11β-HSD1...

Endometriosis is a chronic oestrogen-dependent incurable inflammatory disorder, defined by the presence of endometrial-like tissue outside the uterine cavity that affects 6–10% of women of reproductive age. It is associated with debilitating pelvic pain and subfertility with a significant impact on quality of life and estimated annual costs to the UK of £11.7 billion. Recent findings from our laboratory have shown that there is a shift in cell metabolism from mitocho...

Background: The late gestational surge in glucocorticoids is vital for the maturation of fetal organs in preparation for birth and survival during the neonatal period. Metabolic maturation of cardiomyocytes involves a switch in fuel substrate from glucose utilization to fatty acid (FA) oxidation. In fetal cardiomyocytes, glucocorticoids induce expression of Ppargc1a (encoding PGC1a, a master regulator of mitochondrial capacity). We hypothesized that glucocorticoids pr...