Endocrine Abstracts

Hypertension is a common feature of patients with type 2 diabetes, and contributes to the markedly increased risk of cardiovascular disease associated with the diabetic state. Both hypertension and type 2 diabetes are features of the Insulin Resistance Syndrome. Susceptibility genes for the development of the Insulin Resistance Syndrome could contribute to the close association between hypertension and type 2 diabetes. Support for this concept comes from the identification of ...

Case reports in humans implicate glucocorticoid (GC) excess, through exogenous administration or endogenous overproduction, as a cause of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. In rodents, massive doses of GCs have induced fatty liver when liver fat was measured in the fasting state. The mechanisms through which GCs might induce fatty liver are unknown, but are thought to be secondary to insulin resistance/hyperinsulinaemia. In this study, we examined the effect of dexamethasone (...

Prenatal dexamethasone (dex) administration in rats retards foetal growth, and programmes hyperinsulinaemia and glucose intolerance in adult offspring. This can be explained in part by increased hepatic gluconeogenesis, due to up-regulated glucocorticoid receptor (GR) expression, but may also involve impaired peripheral glucose disposal. In this model, we previously showed no increase in skeletal muscle GR, and have now examined GR and key metabolic genes in adipose tissue.</...

NADPH generated by hexose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (H6PDH) within the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) drives the reductase activity of 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11-βHSD1) allowing the production of active glucocorticoids. H6PDH knockout (H6PDHKO) mice develop a vacuolating myopathy, reduced muscle mass and display activation of the ER stress response. However, the role of glucocorticoids and 11β-HSD1 in the myopathy phenotype is not clear...

Maternal nutrient restriction (NR) during late-gestation can influence liver growth by altering maturation of the hypothalamus. Maternal NR during late-gestation increases fetal plasma GH levels whilst circulating IGF-I and IGF-II levels decrease. This study aimed to determine whether maternal NR during late-gestation altered the hepatic IGF system in resultant offspring.Fourteen primiparous twin pregnant Border Leicester cross Swaledale ewes were fed <i...

Background: Sotos syndrome is an uncommon condition characterised by rapid growth, large body size and acromegaloid facies.There is limited data on metabolic abnormalities in Sotos syndrome.Aims: We investigated insulin sensitivity and secretion rates in a 22 year old girl with Sotos syndrome, prompted by the observation of a flat glucose response after an oral glucose challenge.Methods: Glucose tolerance was assessed with a 75g 2-h oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), ...

Alstrom syndrome is an autosomal recessive disorder characterised by obesity, sensorineural deafness, cone-rod dystrophy and hypergonadotrophic hypogonadism. Diabetes in these patients is characterised by severe insulin resistance.We describe the management of diabetes in a 28 year old male patient with Alstrom syndrome and severe insulin resistance. Obesity developed early in childhood and at 3 years weight was 22.2 kg. Genetic studies revealed that the patient is a compo...

Impaired insulin action is a characteristic feature of type 2 diabetes and skeletal muscle is the principal tissue for peripheral glucose disposal. Aims: To determine if after prolonged culture human muscle cells from characterised type 2 diabetes patients have defects of insulin action compared to controls. Design: After attaining local Ethical Committee approval six compliant type 2 diabetic patients with severe clinical insulin resistance, on greater than 100 units of insul...

Impaired insulin action is a characteristic feature of type 2 diabetes and skeletal muscle is the principal tissue for peripheral glucose disposal. Aims: To determine if after prolonged culture human muscle cells from characterised type 2 diabetes patients have defects of insulin action compared to controls. Design: After attaining local Ethical Committee approval six compliant type 2 diabetic patients with severe clinical insulin resistance, on greater than 100 units of insul...

Disorders of male reproductive health, including testicular cancer, cryptorchidism, hypospadias and low sperm counts, are common and may be increasing in incidence. These conditions manifest at different life stages (low sperm counts and testicular cancer in adulthood; cryptorchidism and hypospadias at birth) but are proposed to originate in fetal life. These disorders have therefore been hypothesized to comprise a ‘testicular dysgenesis syndrome’ (TDS), which result...