Endocrine Abstracts

The adrenal gland displays an important role in integrating neuronal, immune, vascular, metabolic and endocrine signals under a common organ capsule. The adrenal is the central organ of the stress response system, responsible for responses to acute and chronic stress stimuli and, thereby, playing a major role in numerous stress-related disorders. While for other diseases translational scientists developed programs to generate healthy cells to regenerate damaged tissues in pati...

The adrenal gland is a crucial regulator of numerous fundamental biological processes and its hormones are essential for maintaining homeostasis in normal and stressful situations. However, the impact of hypoxia signalling on the function of the adrenal remains poorly understood. During the past years, our research group has focused on enhancing our understanding of hypoxia pathway proteins (HPPs) in the different areas of the adrenal gland. Firstly, we described a crucial rol...

Evidence indicates that the adrenals are sexually dimorphic and asymmetric. These differences may have implications for the prevalence and progression of adrenal diseases, which also show asymmetry and sexual dimorphism. The present study aims to characterize the morphological and metabolic differences associated with adrenal sex and asymmetry in mice and humans. Adrenals were compared bilaterally in male and female C57B/6NRj mice with regard to morphological and hormonal char...

Introduction: Pheochromocytomas represent rare but potential lethal tumors arising from the adrenal medulla. Early recognition and diagnosis represent a challenge due to the non-specific character of signs and symptoms. The classic presentation includes headache, sweating, palpitations and other signs and symptoms of apparent catecholamine excess occurring in paroxysms. Sympathomimetics may result in a similar presentation, potentially complicating the diagnosis.<p class="...

Objective: To document influences of sampling of blood under supine fasting versus seated non-fasting conditions on diagnosis of pheochromocytoma using plasma concentrations of normetanephrine, metanephrine and methoxytyramine (P-NMN/MN/MTY).Design and methods: P-NMN/MN/MTY were measured by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry in 695 patients at five centers, two of which complied with requirements for supine sampling after an overnight fa...

Background: Primary aldosteronism (PA) is the most frequent cause of endocrine hypertension associated with excess aldosterone production from one or both adrenal glands. Somatic or germline mutations in the KCNJ5 potassium channel cause an imbalance in intracellular ion homeostasis. This ultimately drives aldosterone overproduction in some sporadic forms of PA and a familial form of the disease (familial hyperaldosteronism type 3). Our objective was to identify small molecule...

Aim: To determine diagnostic performance of normetanephrine (NMN) and metanephrine (MN) measured by an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) compared with liquid chromatographic–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).Methods: Subjects included 341 patients (174 males) with a mean age of 52 year (range 13–86) tested for PHEO, which was confirmed in 54 patients. Samples where collected from fasting patients after 30 min of supine rest and analyzed for NMN, MN an...

Background: Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) is a group of inherited disorders affecting adrenal steroidogenesis. The main form, 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21-OHD), results from mutations in the CYP21A2 gene. Patients experience hormone deficiencies, and excessive androgens which lead to various symptoms such as hypoglycemia, salt wasting, virilization, and early puberty. Therapy demands high glucocorticoid doses, causing significant side-effects. While new treatm...

Background: Current guidelines recommend adrenal vein sampling (AVS) for the identification of surgically treatable unilateral disease among patients with primary aldosteronism (PA). The cortisol-derived selectivity index (SI) is currently used to assess the success (or selectivity) of adrenal vein catheterization during AVS. However, AVS studies can be non-selective in many cases.Aim: To examine whether the use of SI derived either from 11-deoxycortisol...

Introduction: Currently, it is unclear whether plasma free or 24-hour urinary metanephrines are preferable for diagnosis of pheochromocytoma/paraganglioma (PPGL) in children.Objectives: To investigate whether measurements of plasma free or 24-hour urinary fractionated metanephrines is a reliable test for screening for PPGL in children.Methods: This retrospective study included data from 60 children with and 78 without PPGL. Data in...