Endocrine Abstracts

IntroductionThe mechanism by which hypertrophy of skeletal muscle occurs in response to anabolic androgens is incompletely understood. This study used a cell culture model of human skeletal muscle-derived cells, with samples obtained from consenting subjects and local ethics committee approval. The objective was to determine changes in myogenicity upon exposure to exogenous androgen +/− IGF-1 and to see whether an additive effect would be observed....

Complement C5a is associated with various pro-inflammatory effects such as chemotaxis, production of superoxides, histamine release, vasodilatation and smooth muscle contraction. In sepsis, excessive production of C5a can lead to multi-organ failure. C5a mediates its actions through the C5a receptor (C5aR) but may also bind to a second receptor called C5L2 that acts as a decoy for removing excess C5a. C5a is also rapidly cleaved to a less active form, C5adesR; C5L2, in contras...

Adult-onset Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH) is a rare disease characterised by the abnormal proliferation of Langerhans cells, and has a distinct phenotype to that of childhood-onset LCH. Diabetes Insipidus (DI) is a well-recognised manifestation of LCH, caused by infiltration of the hypothalamo-pituitary axis (HPA). Anterior pituitary dysfunction is an uncommon complication of LCH, which has been shown to be associated with DI. However, this association has previously onl...

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is a major regulation of inflammation via the release of adrenal glucocorticoids. We recently showed that anaphylatoxin C3a receptors are expressed throughout the anterior pituitary gland and that immune-derived complement C3a and its less active derivative, C3adesR (loss of C-terminal arginine) are potent stimuli for pituitary hormones.In this study we investigated the expression of the anaphylatoxin receptor C5a ...

BACKGROUND: Patients with dyspepsia are treated with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) which reduce acid secretion and therefore give rise to a secondary hypergastrinaemia. Gastrinomas are a rare cause of dyspepsia diagnosed on the basis of a raised fasting gastrin measurement. Therefore, when screening patients with dyspepsia for a gastrinoma, PPIs must be withdrawn for 2 weeks, prior to the measurement of fasting gastrin levels to ensure that fasting gastrin levels are back to b...

A 71-year-old man presented with a three week history of nausea, vomiting, constipation, polyuria, nocturia, polydipsia and feeling weak. He had sustained a wrist fracture six weeks prior to admission. Since then he had started to consume calcium containing mineral water, cod liver oil and seven seas oil.Examination revealed a palpable mass in the right lower thyroid. Serum calcium level was 4.37 millimols/litre (ref. 2.10-2.70), parathormone level of 72...

A 71-year-old man presented with a three week history of nausea, vomiting, constipation, polyuria, nocturia, polydipsia and feeling weak. He had sustained a wrist fracture six weeks prior to admission. Since then he had started to consume calcium containing mineral water, cod liver oil and seven seas oil.Examination revealed a palpable mass in the right lower thyroid. Serum calcium level was 4.37 millimols/litre (ref. 2.10-2.70), parathormone level of 72...

The hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis is the major regulator of stress and inflammation via the secretion of anti-inflammatory corticosteroids. This suggests an important bidirectional flow of information between the endocrine and immune systems. A critical component of the inflammatory response is the complement cascade in which anaphylatoxins C3a, C4a and C5a are released.In this report we used colocalisation immunohistochemistry to show detai...

Background: Therapeutic activation of thermogenic brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a potential strategy to prevent obesity and metabolic disease in humans. However, it is now recognised that rodent studies examining BAT physiology are carried out at sub-thermoneutral temperatures (e.g. ~20°C), and are not translationally relevant to humans as BAT is ‘hyperactive’. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the effect of common regulators of BAT metabolism wh...

Adrenal incidentalomata are a common finding on cross-sectional imaging of the abdomen. Further assessment is required to differentiate benign adrenal masses from adrenocortical carcinomas and hormone-secreting tumours. Phaeochromocytomas are rare catecholamine-secreting tumours arising from chromaffin cells of the adrenal medulla. They classically present with symptoms and signs of catecholamine excess including headache, sweating, hypertension and tachycardia. However, with ...