Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Overfeeding adolescent ewes with singleton pregnancies results in reduced placental size and low lamb birth weight at term. We have investigated if reduced placental size is associated with altered placental cell proliferation and apoptosis at day 80 of pregnancy (peak placental growth period). Methods: Singleton pregnancies to a single sire were established by embryo transfer to adolescent recipient dams. Pregnant ewes were offered high (H, n = 14) or moderate (...

Human adolescent pregnancy is characterised by poor pregnancy outcome; the risks of spontaneous miscarriage, prematurity and low birth-weight are particularly acute in girls who are still growing at the time of conception. Studies using an adolescent sheep paradigm demonstrate that in growing females who are overnourished throughout pregnancy, growth of the placenta is impaired resulting in a major decrease in lamb birth-weight relative to adolescent dams receiving a moderate ...

Three siblings of Pakistani origin presented shortly after birth with failure to thrive and hyperkalemia and were found to have isolated hyperreninaemic hypoaldosteronism. They were all well controlled on fludrocortisone therapy during childhood and adolescence. When reassessed in adult life off fludrocortisone treatment, hyperreninaemic hypoaldosteronism was confirmed in all subjects, but with significant hyperkalemia in only one case. None of the subjects developed orthostat...

INTRODUCTIONThe plasma concentrations and urinary excretion rates of 18-OH-F and 18-oxo-F are high in Conn's syndrome and glucocorticoid suppressible hyperaldosteronism, reputedly because aldosterone synthase (AS) has abnormal access to cortisol (F). However, both compounds are also excreted in normal subjects. Two enzymes, 11beta-hydroxylase (11OH) and AS, located in the zona fasiculata (ZF) and zona glomerulosa (ZG) respectively, are capable of 18-hydroxylation but only ...

Background: Bone marrow adipose tissue (BMAT) comprises >10% of total adipose mass in healthy humans and further increases in diverse clinical conditions, including obesity/diabetes, osteoporosis and following caloric restriction (CR). However, why BMAT increases during CR remains unknown. One possibility is that this is mediated by glucocorticoid (GC) excess. GC action on target tissues depends on circulating and intracellular concentrations of t...