Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Primary bilateral macronodular adrenal hyperplasia (PBMAH) is an uncommon cause (<1%) of endogenous Cushing’s syndrome (CS). Recently, due to increased number of incidental imaging findings of PBMAH, the clinical expression of the disease has changed in favor of oligosymptomatic or subclinical cases, compared to those with clinically manifest CS, or rarely with secretion of mineralocorticoids, or sex steroids.Case report: A 51-yea...

3-iodothyronamine (T1AM) is an endogenous thyroid hormone derivative which produces profound metabolic effects such as a shift in fuel substrate utilization from carbohydrates to lipid. Thus, in the present work we investigated the effects of T1AM on hepatic glucose metabolism.To assess metabolite release, human hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2) were exposed for 4 h to different concentrations of exogenous T1AM (0.1, 1 and 10 μM) in glucose pro...

Introduction: The treatment of choice in Cushing’s disease (CD) is transsphenoidal surgery (TSS). The success of surgical procedure is of particular importance in terms of patient`s prognosis. The aim of this study was the prospective evaluation of compatibility of coupled 1 mg dexamethasone suppression test and 10 μg desmopressin stimulation test (CDDT) with standard criteria of remission in CD.Methods: The study population consisted of 36 pat...

Aim: serum cortisol dynamic after transsphenoidal pituitary surgery (TSS) in predicting remission and recurrence of CD.Methods: A cohort of 103 CD patients from a referral center was prospectively analyzed at 111 TSS in 6.0±4.8 years of follow-up. Twenty patients received glucocorticoids in transoperative and had serum cortisol measured at 10–12 days after TSS (Protocol I). Eighty six patients had serum cortisol measured at each 6 h in the firs...

Rationale: In chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) there is a great controversy about the role of the ACTH/cortisol axis. To examine this phenomena we performed ITT tests in CFS patients with low fasting cortisol (<20 μg/dl). A group of CFS patients with other hypofysal dysfunction were also examined.Methods: One hundred and one patients who underwent classical fasting ITT were registered and analyzed: glucose, cortisol, ACTH and GH were measured and ...

GIP-dependent Cushing’s syndrome (CS) is caused by ectopic expression in adrenal cortex of gastric inhibitory peptide (GIP) receptors coupled to steroidogenesis, which leads to postprandial increases of cortisol (food-dependent CS). In a few cases a transient effect of short-acting octreotide on cortisol levels has been shown, but bilateral adrenalectomy is still thought to be a definitive treatment.We report on a case of a 45-year old woman with bi...

A 38-year-old woman with chronic autoimmune thyroiditis and hypothyroidism treated with levothyroxine (125 μg/day) was referred to our outpatient clinic with a history of sudden increase of goiter, weakness, dysphagia, dyspnea and suffocating sensation. Physical examination showed an enlarged, stony thyroid gland (three times of normal), without palpable cervical lymph nodes. Biochemical evaluation showed the following abnormalities: TSH 6.0 μU/ml (0.4–4.3), fre...

It is becoming increasingly evident that pathways exist within the (ER) that can impact upon cellular redox status, glucocorticoid metabolism and glucose homeostasis.Within the ER of the liver, glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase) and glucose 6-phosphate (G6P) transporter (G6PT) work together to increase blood glucose concentrations by performing the terminal step in both glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis. The G6Pase ‘shares’ G6P with hexose-6-phosp...

Ovariectomy of immature female rats, results in significant decreased parameters in different organs. Previously we found that estradiol-17b (E2) restored these parameters in the different organs of ovariectomized female rats (Ovx) to values obtained in intact immature female rats. E2 also stimulated creatine kinase specific activity (CK) a hormonal-responsive marker in organs containing estrogen receptors. In the present study, we compared the effects of...

Introduction: β-Arrestins are cytosolic proteins, which play key roles in the desensitization, internalization and signaling of G protein-coupled receptors. Currently, little is known about the role of β-arrestins in the internalization of the CB1 cannabinoid receptor (CB1R). Therefore, the interaction between β-arrestins and CB1R, and its role in receptor internalization were studied.Materials and methods: The β-arrestin binding of C...