Endocrine Abstracts

Case report: Central neurocytomas are well-differentiated rare central nervous system tumours. These tumours when identified in brain parenchyma or spinal cord are termed as extra ventricular neurocytomas. We report a case of 40 year old lady with mild hypertension who presented with long standing history of intermittent headaches which got worse 2 months before presentation, mainly affecting her forehead and left retro-orbital region. She also noted blurring of vision in her ...

VEGF is an endothelial-cell specific mitogen and is a critical regulator of developmental and reproductive angiogenesis. VEGF165 is the most abundant isoform, with the N-terminal 110 aa domain containing the receptor binding site and the C-terminal 55 aa domain containing a heparin-binding site. The activity of the molecule is mediated through its interaction with two main receptors, VEGFR-1 and VEGFR-2, the binding to which is modulated by both cell surface-associated glycosa...

Bone turnover decreases markedly following both oral glucose and feeding. The mechanism for this is unclear. The aim of this study was to examine whether insulin itself could be responsible for the effect of feeding. We examined the acute effect of a hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp (E) and stepwise hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemic clamp (H) on bone turnover and PTH. Sixteen healthy male volunteers (mean age 22) attended on two occasions at 0800 after an overnight fast. The stud...

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the commonest cause of anovulatory infertility in women, but its aetiology is poorly understood. There is evidence for a primary disorder of androgen secretion, which has its origins before puberty, but it is not clear how this may cause the characteristic ovarian abnormalities. We have developed an ovine model for PCOS to explore possible differences between the small preantral follicles of androgenised female lambs with those of normal ova...

BackgroundSomatostatin (sst) acts via a series of 5 G-coupled receptors (sstr1-5) which control exocrine and endocrine secretions and also regulate cellular proliferation and apoptosis in many parts of the body. Recent experimental data suggests that sst plays a roles in ovarian function and the synthetic sstr agonists octreotide has been used in the treatment of polycystic ovarian syndrome. We have investigated the expression of somatostatin receptors (...

Leptin is a crucial hormone in the regulation of body weight. It is produced by adipose tissue and acts centrally decreasing appetite and increasing energy expenditure. Leptin has been shown to stimulate sympathetic nervous system activity in vitro although the physiological relevance of this remains unclear. Increased sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity has been implicated in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance and a greatly increased cardiovascular risk. We have the...

The prenatally androgenised sheep, like the Rhesus monkey, is an informative model for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). We have recently demonstrated that AMH protein is reduced in preantral follicles of PCOS ovaries (Stubbs et al, Endocrine Abstracts 2004, 7 P186 ). We hypothesized that reduced expression of AMH is an effect of androgen excess. The aim of this study was to examine AMH immunostaining in ovaries from prenatally androgen-treated and control ewes. Ovaries were t...