Endocrine Abstracts

Neonatal rats were treated with MSG (4G/Kg daily for 7 days). Glucose tolerance tests (GTT) were performed at 32, 65 and 70 weeks. After one year there was evidence of Type II diabetes, and the blood glucose levels were significantly greater than the controls for several points in the GTT; islet beta-cells were unchanged, cataracts were often present and there was central obesity.The amines in the heart, proximal tail artery, kidneys and adrenals were ex...

WNK1 (With-No-K, lysine) and WNK4 are serine/threonine kinases, mutated in Gordon syndrome (Pseudohypoaldosteronism Type II), a dominant, hypertensive, hyperkalaemic disorder; implicating this novel WNK pathway in normal regulation of blood pressure (BP) and electrolyte balance. Previous Xenopus oocyte work implicates WNK4 in regulation of K+ secretion via ROMK (renal outer medullary K+ channel) and Cl- transport pathways both paracellularly via tight junctions (claudin...

Surgical management for parathyroid disease worldwide is on the rise. Hand in hand, parathyroid surgery has evolved from the classical bilateral approach to the more focussed unilateral approach. The failure rate in the best of hands continues to be 3–4% but this figure may rise as Minimally Invasive Surgical techniques are universally adopted.Accurate pathological diagnosis to differentiate parathyroid adenomas from hyperplasia continues to be diff...

There is evidence that an unbalanced maternal diet, combining a high ratio of protein to carbohydrate with low intakes of folate and green vegetables imposes a metabolic stress on the mother and fetus leading to fetal growth retardation. Because recent studies have shown that high protein maternal diets are associated with raised offspring blood pressure, we have assessed whether this form of unbalanced maternal nutrition is also associated with glucose intolerance.<p clas...

Selective Parathyroid Venous Sampling in Patients with Complicated Primary HyperparathyroidismCM Ogilvie, PL Brown, M Matson, R Carpenter, WM Drake, PJ Jenkins, SL Chew, JP MonsonCentre for Endocrinology and Departments of Surgery and Radiology, St Bartholomew's Hospital, QMUL, London EC1A 7BEThe role of pre-operative localisation of abnormal parathyroid glands remains controversial but is particularly releva...

The kidney plays a dominant role in long-term blood pressure (BP) control and electrolyte homeostasis but aldosterone (aldo) responsive molecular pathways in the kidney involved in regulating BP remain poorly understood despite identification of several participant genes. Many human single gene disorders affecting BP have been faithfully reproduced in mice by targeting the corresponding genes. Thus mouse is an excellent model to study molecular pathways underlying hypertension...

The effects of radiotherapy, one of the main options currently available for cancer therapy, depend on various factors, including the dose and the radiosensitivity of tumour cells. Radiotherapy is known to induce apoptosis in breast cancer cells, but the effects of irradiation on components of the intracellular pathways involved in apoptosis and survival are largely unknown. BAD, which is a pro-apoptotic member of the Bcl-2 family plays a central role in the interaction betwee...

Renal sodium handling and responses to aldosterone (aldo) are conserved across species and intrinsic to the dominant role of the kidney in long-term blood pressure (BP) control. Molecular pathways involved in hypertensive responses to aldo and escape from these remain largely unclear despite identification of several participant genes. We have characterized renal gene expression changes in mice, receiving aldo and/or dietary salt excess, using microarray analysis and concurren...

The pathway from aldosterone to upregulation of renal sodium re-absorption via the amiloride sensitive sodium channel (ENaC) is strongly implicated in blood pressure control and causation of hypertension (HT) in humans. In order to study these processes further an animal model is required to correlate physiological changes as hypertension develops with the molecular pathways underpinning these in kidney. Transgenic studies indicate mouse is an excellent species for modeling th...

Introduction: While a great degree of focus has recently been placed on identifying novel steroidogenic pathways that are active in cancer development (e.g. Androgen metabolism and Androgen Receptor (AR) Signalling, Glucocorticoid Metabolism and Glucocorticoid receptor (GR) signalling) very few studies have examined these pathways in normal breast samples taken under non-pathological conditions. Furthermore, very few studies have examined the steroid levels in non-pathological...