Endocrine Abstracts

Type II diabetes is a clinical disorder of glucose and fat metabolism, caused by an inability of insulin to promote sufficient glucose uptake into adipose tissue and striated muscle and to prevent glucose output from the liver. Skeletal muscle is an important element for the maintenance of glucose homeostasis because it can increase, after stimulation, glucose uptake from the blood. In previous experiments we found that acylated ghrelin (AG), unacylated ghrelin (UAG), obestati...

Over the last decade 824 pituitary tumours have been removed in our centre. Of these, 114 (13.8%) were corticotroph adenomas. We present four unusual cases of corticotroph adenoma showing transition from Cushing’s disease to a hormonally inactive adenoma (case 1 and 2) or vice versa (case 3 and 4).Case 1: A 51-year-old man was admitted with a 2-year history of weight gain, arterial hypertension and chiasmatic syndrome. Cushing’s disease (CD) du...

Growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) is a neuropeptide mainly synthesised in the hypothalamus, known to exert a stimulatory effect on the synthesis and release of growth hormone (GH) from the pituitary via the activation of specific receptors. New data indicate that GHRH is also produced in both extrahypothalamic brain areas and in peripheral tissues. GHRH-receptor splice variants (SVs) have been found in several peripheral normal and neoplastic human tissues and mediate ef...

The hypothalamic hormone growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH), has been shown to function via its receptor splice variants as an autocrine/paracrine growth factor in normal and malignant cell lines and tissues, besides positively regulating growth hormone (GH) synthesis and secretion from the pituitary. Moreover, GHRH antagonists are known to suppress the proliferation of a wide variety of cancer cells through mechanisms yet to be fully elucidated. Aim of this study was to ...

Introduction: In order to study the effect of age and testosterone on sleep related erections, we enrolled 209 men (122: age 30–49 years; 87: age over 50 years), including mild and severe hypogonadal subjects (129) and eugonadal subjects (80).Subjects and methods: The subjects were assigned to four groups, according to their testosterone serum levels. All the subjects underwent nocturnal penile tumescence and rigidity monitoring (NPTRM). The followi...

White adipose tissue (WAT) stores excess energy as triglycerides, while brown adipose tissue (BAT) dissipates energy through heat, acting as a defence against cold and obesity and as a positive regulator of metabolic functions. BAT thermogenic functions are mainly induced by mitochondrial uncoupling protein-1 (UCP-1), which induces uptake of lipids and glucose to sustain oxidation and thermogenesis in both brown and beige adipocytes. The ghrelin gene-derived peptides, acylated...

Neurogenesis, a process by which new neurons are generated from precursors, still persists in discrete regions of the adult hippocampus. The hippocampus is critical for learning and memory and is a main target of AD, which causes massive neuronal death, reduction in neurogenesis and impairment in cognitive functions. Therefore, preventing neuronal loss or increasing the production of new neurons may represent a potential therapeutic strategy to reduce AD-induced cognitive decl...

Human malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare but aggressive neoplasm, arising from pleural mesothelial cells, generally due exposure to asbestos. Of note, different growth factors and their receptors are involved in the pathogenesis of MPM and resistance to therapy. Chemotherapy with cisplatin (cis) and antifolates, like pemetrexed (PEM), is the first-line treatment for inoperable MPM. Growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH), besides stimulating GH secretion in the ant...

White adipose tissue (WAT) stores excess energy as triglycerides, while brown adipose tissue (BAT) dissipates energy through heat, acting as a defence against cold and obesity and as a positive regulator of metabolic functions. BAT thermogenic functions are mainly induced by mitochondrial uncoupling protein-1 (UCP-1), which induces uptake of lipids and glucose to sustain oxidation and thermogenesis in both brown and beige adipocytes. Beige/brite adipocytes arise in WAT depots ...

Neurogenesis, the process by which new neurons are generated from precursors, persists in discrete regions of the adult hippocampus. The hippocampus is critical for learning and memory and is the main target of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), which causes massive neuronal death, reduction in neurogenesis, and impairment in cognitive functions. Therefore, preventing neuronal loss or increasing the production of new neurons may represent a potential therapeutic strategy to reduce...