Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Our bodies function optimally when we align our eating & sleeping patterns with our circadian rhythms, the innate 24-hour cycles that tell our bodies when to wake up, when to eat and when to fall asleep. Chronically disrupting this rhythm by eating late night meals & sleep could be a recipe for Diabetes, CVD, and metabolic trouble.Aim and objective: The aim of this study is to investigate whether there was a relationship between morni...

The heart not only has a mechanical function of pumping blood through vessels but also acts as an endocrine gland. In its endocrine function, the heart releases atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), a hormone of a large family of natriuretic peptides. ANP is secreted from cardiac atria as an inactive preprohormone. In post-translational modification, 25-amino acid signal sequence is cleaved from preprohormone to produce proANP of 126-amino acid, which is the major form of ANP stor...

Hypertension is associated with vascular changes characterized by endothelial dysfunction, increased vascular contraction, and arterial remodelling. Vascular smooth muscle (VSM) cells, which constitute bulk of vascular wall, are critically involved in these processes through their highly plastic and dynamic features and ability to undergo phenotypic differentiation. Stimulation of VSM cells by pro-hypertensive neurohumoral stimuli such as acetylcholine and norepinephrine, and ...

Introduction: Exosomes are nanoparticles containing bioactive molecules reflecting individual physiological status, regulating metabolism, and repairing damaged tissues. Exosomes are extracellular vesicles with nano-sized features (30-150 nm) involved in cell-to-cell communication and maintaining homeostasis. The function of exosomes is different according to their cargo and they can contain lipids, proteins and nucleic acids. Exosomes originating from mammalian cells as well ...

Background: Our bodies function optimally when we align our eating & sleeping patterns with our circadian rhythms, the innate 24-hour cycles that tell our bodies when to wake up, when to eat and when to fall asleep. Chronically disrupting this rhythm by eating late night meals & sleep could be a recipe for Hypertension, CVD, and metabolic trouble.Aim and objective: The aim of this study is to investigate whether there was a relationship between m...

Background: Cardiofaciocutaneous (CFC) syndrome is a rare disorder characterised by multiple abnormalities including congenital heart disease, craniofacial dysmorphology, ectodermal abnormalities, developmental delay, and epilepsy. Case reports of growth hormone (GH) deficiency, hyperprolactinemia, and precious puberty have been reported in association with CFC syndrome. A recent case series and gene knockout study highlighted the mechanistic role of CFC syndr...

Arginine vasopressin (AVP) is a neurohormone, which regulates blood and extracellular fluid volume and hence blood pressure (BP). AVP has its chief action in kidneys where it reduces flow of urine, increases permeability of convoluted tubules of kidneys to water and its reabsorption. It binds to receptors on sweat glands and decreases water loss by perspiration from the skin. Also, AVP binds to peripheral arteriolar receptors, causing vasoconstriction and increase in BP. The s...

The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) is an endocrine system within the body that is essential for regulation of blood pressure (BP) and fluid balance. The system is mainly comprised of three hormones renin, angiotensin II (Ang II) and aldosterone. The RAAS pathway is initiated in the kidney with the proteolytic conversion of liver derived angiotensinogen to angiotensin I (Ang I) by renin secreted by juxtaglomerular apparatus of the nephron. Ang I is cleaved by angio...

Background: 3-M syndrome is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by pre- and post-natal growth restriction, normal intelligence and dysmorphic facial features. Mutations in the genes encoding Cullin 7 (CUL7) and Obscurin like-1 (OBSL1) have been shown to cause 3-M syndrome.Aims: To characterize CUL7 production and localization in a primary fibroblast cell line from a patient with 3-M syndrome due to a CUL7 mutation and to assess cell prol...