Endocrine Abstracts

We have investigated cell proliferation and apoptosis in Cyp11b1 null (ko) mice. Reduced glucocorticoid (corticosterone) synthesis in ko mice is associated with increased progesterone and deoxycorticosterone and the development of adenomyosis. Numbers of putative uterine stem cells were assessed in wild type (wt) and ko at an age (10–12 months) when the onset of adenomyosis was considered imminent. Mice were infused with bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) for seven days then killed...

Background: Male hypogonadism is commonly caused by hypothalamo-pituitary testicular disease. The effect of modifiable risk factors (obesity, alcohol, smoking, prescribed medications and recreational drugs) on secondary hypogonadism in a clinic-based cohort is unclear. The aim of this study was to ascertain the prevalence and effects of modifiable risk factors on secondary hypogonadism.Method: This was a retrospective, cross-sectional observational study...

Introduction: The repercussions of long-term exposure to low level mixtures of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) which are present, ubiquitously, in the environment are not well understood. Heat-treated sewage sludge, an EDC-rich product used as fertiliser, has been shown to compromise testicular and ovarian development. However, to date, there has been limited investigation in exposed animals of the adrenal glands, the steroid hormone products of which play key roles in f...

Supervised 72 h fast is historically the gold standard screen for spontaneous hypoglycaemia. Consensus guidelines published in 2009 suggested that β-hydroxy-butyrate levels be measured every 6 h, and the glucose response to an i.v. injection of glucagon be assessed at the time of documented hypoglycaemia, or at the end of the 72 h fast. We incorporated these recommendations into our protocol, and here examine the results of the first 10 cases.A rise...

Introduction: Expression of murine CSP-1/Dcpp secretory proteins was first identified in sublingual salivary glands and subsequently in secretory epithelia of several other tissues, including the mouse female reproductive tract where expression is regulated by oestrogen. Preliminary studies indicated that HRPE773, the human CSP-1/Dcpp orthologue, displayed a similar pattern of expression to its murine counterparts. We therefore hypothesized that HRPE773 might be expressed in h...

Age-related cognitive decline in postmenopausal women is thought to be partially related to the loss of sex steroids. Like women, old female rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) undergo menopause and show an associated decline in circulating estradiol levels. Similarly, they show an age-related decline in the release of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) from their adrenal glands. Because DHEA acts as a substrate for estradiol synthesis in the brain, it is plausible that DHEA sup...

The ERCUSYN (European Registry on Cushing’s syndrome (CS)) study is a project funded by the European Commission Public Health Program (PHP 800200), of which the ESE is one of the 41 Partners from 25 countries. The aims include obtaining prospective and follow-up data at EU level on epidemiology, mortality, outcome of therapies, co-morbidities, assessment of diagnostic and therapeutic strategies, quality of life evaluation using a disease-generated questionnaire (CushingQo...

It is recommended that all patients with PA who are suitable for surgery should undergo adrenal CT and AVS unless there is a large unilateral adenoma with a completely normal contralateral gland. We reviewed 100 patients diagnosed with PA. AVS was performed in 93. Different lateralisation criteria for AVS were assessed using ROC curve analysis to determine the optimal one for identifying an adenoma. We reviewed the outcomes of adrenalectomy evaluating which pre-operative chara...

Deficiency of the intracellular glucocorticoid (GC) reactivating enzyme 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD1) invokes compensatory activation of the HPA axis. Nevertheless, 11β-HSD1−/− mice resist dietary-induced obesity indicating that target tissues are protected from GC actions. Since endocrine adaptation to diet is mediated by altered HPA activity, we investigated whether the adrenal response to high fat (HF) diet is compr...

Steroidogenic cells of the adrenal cortex are thought to originate from a peripherally-located self-renewing population of undifferentiated stem or progenitor cells. These cells divide infrequently to give daughters, which proliferate transiently (termed transiently amplifying (TA) cells), migrate and differentiate to replenish the functionally-differentiated zones of the adrenal cortex, or remain in situ as undifferentiated stem cells. Theoretically such stem cells can...