Endocrine Abstracts

Murine 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11βHSD1) catalyses the conversion of inactive 11-dehydrocorticosterone (A) to active corticosterone (B) and plays a key role in metabolic homeostasis. The directionality of this enzyme is dependent upon the presence of NADPH, a cofactor produced by hexose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (H6PDH). In accord with this, H6PDH KO mice have no reductase and increased dehydrogenase activity of 11βHSD1. Interestingly, H6PDH KO m...

Background: The novel peptide prokineticin-2 (PK2) has recently been implicated in the regulation of a number of physiological processes; including regulating gastrointestinal motility, spermatogenesis, neurogenesis and circadian rhythms. PK2 is a cysteine rich protein which mediates its effects via the prokineticin receptors which are expressed in several hypothalamic nuclei known to regulate food intake. We therefore hypothesised that PK2 may be an important endogenous regul...