Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Recent studies have elucidated that C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP), a member of natriuretic peptide family, is a potent stimulator of endochondral bone growth; CNP and its membranous guanylyl cyclase receptor, GC-B are expressed in growth plate, and mice with targeted overexpression of CNP in growth plate exhibit prominent skeletal overgrowth, whereas CNP or GC-B knockout mice develop severely short stature phenotype owing to their impaired endochondral bone gr...

Type 1 iodothyronine deiodinase (D1), a selenoenzyme that catalyzes the bioactivation of thyroid hormone, is expressed mainly in the liver. Its expression and activity are modulated by several factors, but the precise mechanism of its transcriptional regulation remains unclear. In the present study, we have analyzed the promoter of human D1 (hDIO1) gene to identify factors that prevalently increase D1 activity in the human liver. Deletion and mutation analyses demonstrated tha...

Excess glucocorticoids (GC) promote visceral obesity, hyperlipidemia and insulin resistance. The main regulators of intracellular GC levels are 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD1), which converts inactive GC into bioactive forms such as cortisol in humans and corticosterone in rodents. Therefore, the inhibition of 11β-HSD1 has considerable therapeutic potential for metabolic diseases including obesity and diabetes. Benzofran is a key structure in ...