Endocrine Abstracts

Background and Aims: Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is characterised by autoimmune destruction of pancreatic beta-cells resulting in insulin deficiency. Evaluation of novel therapies for T1DM requires reliable methods to measure beta-cell function, which is unattainable using traditional non-invasive imaging techniques. A new approach is manganese-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MEMRI). As a calcium analogue, manganese is taken up into pancreatic beta-cells during insuli...

Non-invasive methods to measure enzyme activity in vivo can provide a useful tool for the development of selective inhibitors. Tissue-specific dysregulation of 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1 (11β-HSD1), a reductase enzyme that amplifies active intracellular glucocorticoid levels, has been shown in obese patients using invasive tools (biopsy, microdialysis and arteriovenous sampling with stable isotope tracers). 11β-HSD1 inhibitors are efficacious in...