Endocrine Abstracts

Hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis responses to stress are attenuated perinatally in mother rodents. We have now investigated the peripheral sympathetic and adrenal medulla responses to stress in pregnancy by measuring noradrenaline and adrenaline secretion after stress. Virgin and pregnant rats were blood sampled before and after exposure to airpuff startle stress in their home cages, and samples analysed for adrenaline, noradrenaline and ACTH concentration by RIA. Airp...

Adrenal/periadrenal sarcomas are very rare entity of adrenal tumours. An epidemiological analysis of primary adrenal cancers found prevalence of adrenal sarcoma of 1.3% compared to adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) 43.8%, neuroblastoma 39.7%, pheochromocytoma 10.9% and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma 4.3% (1). In 2021, 26 adrenalectomies in adults were performed in our institution. 12/26 had malignant histology. 9/26 lesions were > 6 cm. 7/9 lesions > 6 cm were malignant (2 a...

During the establishment of pregnancy, the endometrium undergoes dynamic remodelling in order to establish a ‘receptive’ microenvironment. Decidualisation, a key part of this process, is characterised by differentiation of endometrial stromal fibroblasts which secrete factors that regulate implantation and placental development. Recent studies in our laboratory have revealed that decidualisation results in altered expression of enzymes that regulate biosynthesis and ...

Chorionic Gonadotrophin (CG) is secreted by both horse and human placenta and is critical to maintenance of early pregnancy. Production of CG is dependent on the differentiation of specialised CG-secreting cells, binucleate (horse) and syncytiotrophoblast (human). We recently showed the transcription factor Glial Cells Missing 1 (GCM1) is rapidly induced in vivo during differentiation of equine binucleate trophoblast. Studies in human syncytiotrophoblast have shown cAMP...

Primary hyperparathyroidism is a common endocrine disorder. Diagnosis is more frequently made where calcium testing forms part of routine screening bloods. The clinical profile has shifted from a symptomatic disorder with hypercalcaemic symptoms, kidney stones and overt bone disease towards a more asymptomatic state. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have produced guidelines on diagnosis and management of primary hyperparathyroidism but no UK guidelines are in existence....

The human endometrium is a complex multicellular tissue the prime function of which is to provide a receptive environment during a fertile cycle. The tissue responds to steroid hormones exhibiting dynamic cyclical regeneration, angiogenesis, differentiation (decidualisation) and inflammation. In the absence of an embryo the inner surface is shed and repaired without scarring (menstruation). The endometrium exhitbits spatial and temporal expression of androgen receptors (AR) in...

Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most common gynaecological malignancy. Obesity is a major risk factor for EC and is associated with elevated cholesterol. 27-Hydroxycholesterol (27HC) is a cholesterol metabolite that functions as an endogenous agonist for Liver X Receptor (LXR) and a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM). Exposure to estrogenic ligands increases risk of developing EC however the impact of 27HC on EC is unknown.Samples of stage 1 EC ...

The endometrium is a complex tissue with luminal and glandular epithelial cell layers supported on a multicellular stromal compartment; in women the inner (luminal) portion of the tissue breaks down and is shed during menstruation. The endometrium is exquisitely sensitive to the actions of sex steroids (oestrogens, progestogens and androgens) produced in ovarian and other extra gonadal tissues and delivered via blood vessels that rapidly develop and mature within the tissue (e...

Introduction: Oestrogen receptors (ER) are essential for reproductive function and fertility. ER46 is a 46 kDa truncated isoform of full length ERα (ER66) that binds oestradiol (E2) and can signal via nuclear or membrane-initiated signalling pathways. ER46 has been detected in breast cancer cell lines but expression in endometrial tissues has not been documented. The aims of this study were a) to determine whether endometrial cells express ER46, and b) to investigate a po...

Endometriosis is a chronic hormone-dependent disorder, characterised by growth of ‘ectopic’ endometrial tissue outside the uterus. It has been reported that 30–40% of women who are sub/infertile have endometriosis. Infertility in women with severe endometriosis may be the result of either scarring or pelvic distortion, but in women with mild/moderate disease it is believed subfertility may result from disturbances in endometrial tissue function. Transformation o...