Endocrine Abstracts

In neonates, cardiomyocytes exit the cell cycle thus establishing cardiomyocyte number for life. Further growth is through hypertrophy. Factors that advance the timing of the switch from hyperplastic to hypertrophic growth may increase risk of cardiac disease in adulthood. Early life administration of glucocorticoids is known to increase risk of cardiovascular disease. We hypothesized that dexamethasone, a synthetic glucocorticoid, causes precocious cell cycle exit of neonatal...