Endocrine Abstracts

Enhanced corticosterone release by female compared to male rats under basal and stress conditions has been frequently evidenced (1). The demonstration that gonadectomy enhances stress-induced corticosterone secretion in male rats (2) but reduces such levels in female rats (3) suggests a causal association between gonadal steroids and corticosterone release. The present study examined the corticosterone profile of intact and gonadectomised female and male rats under basal and s...

Background: We have previously demonstrated that the natriuretic peptides BNP and NT-proBNP rise with ascent to high altitude (HA). Both peptides are classically markers of congestive cardiac failure but have also recently been found to be associated with pulmonary hypertension at sea-level (SL). As pulmonary hypertension is central to the risk of high altitude pulmonary oedema we aimed to establish if there was any association between high pulmonary artery systolic pressure (...