Endocrine Abstracts

Fatty liver disease is strongly associated with insulin resistance. In order to elucidate the causality of this complex relationship, we studied insulin resistance in a rodent model of fatty liver disease – the choline deficient diet (CDD) – in which fatty liver occurs without generalised obesity. C57Bl/6 mice were fed a low fat (10% calories as fat, ‘Lo’) or isocaloric high fat diet (45% calories as fat, ‘Hi’) for 3 weeks; then half of the animal...

Objective:The activity of hepatic enzymes that metabolise glucocorticoids is altered in the setting of the metabolic syndrome. Westerbacka et al suggested a specific association between fatty liver and increased 5beta-reductase enzyme activity (J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2003). We hypothesised that non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which is strongly associated with insulin resistance, may be primarily responsible for these changes.<p cla...

The metabolism of glucocorticoids within adipose tissue, by the enzyme 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11HSD1), is known to be altered in obesity and following high fat feeding. Until recently, little attention has been paid to the fat depots found directly adjacent to blood vessels. Emerging evidence suggests that perivascular adipose may play a key role in modulating vascular function. The presence of steroidogenic enzymes within perivascular adipose, and the eff...