Endocrine Abstracts

Infertility affects 1 in 20 Australia men of reproductive age, and for the majority, the causes remain unknown. In an effort to identify addition key pathways and proteins involved in male fertility we undertook a random mouse mutagenesis screen. In the process we identified the Mot1 line which carries a point mutation in the Rabl2 gene. Mot1 homozygous male are sterile, have a reduced daily sperm output, short sperm tails and drastically reduced progressive sperm motil...

There is a strong correlation between metabolic status (e.g. obesity, diabetes, alcohol use and abuse) and reproductive functions. Disruptions of metabolic status affecting the reproductive system are often manifested as decrease in secretion of hormone (GnRH) and (LH), disruptions of secretion of sex steroids and estrus cycles (in animals) or menstrual cycles (in women), and may even lead to infertility. Diabetes and obesity are also correlated with hypogondism, which is repo...

Introduction: Transsphenoidal surgery (TSS) is the treatment option of first choice for Cushing’s disease (CD). The traditional microsurgical technique has recently been challenged by endoscopic surgical methods. We present endocrine outcome of TSS in CD with a modified contemporary microsurgical concept.Methods: Eighty three patients underwent TSS for newly-diagnosed CD (72 microadenomas and 11 macroadenomas). An enlarged resection was performed in...

We have previously shown that in pancreatic ductal epithelial cells, the expression of the water channel aquaporin-1 is under the control of the oxysterol receptor liver X receptor β. The aim of the present study was to investigate water balance in mice lacking each LXR isoform.Given free access to water, LXRβ−/− mice demonstrated an abnormal daily excretion of highly diluted urine, polyuria, with increased water intake compared to ...

The estrogen receptor (ER) plays an important role in breast cancer development and progression. Hypoxia was shown to modulate the level of ERα expression and induce ligand-independent transcriptional activation of ERα, which may be intimately associated with the biology of breast carcinomas. Given that phosphorylation affects the transcriptional activity and stabilization of ERα, we examined the changes in phosphorylation of ERα under hypoxic conditions. H...

Introduction: E-cadherins are found in epithelial tissue. Reduced expression in somatotroph pituitary adenomas has been demonstrated to correlate with dedifferentiated phenotype; reduced tumour size, increased invasiveness, and reduced somatostatin analog response. Recently, correlations between corticotroph tumour dedifferentiation and both E-cadherin immunostaining and reduced E-cadherin gene (CDH1) mRNA was demonstrated.Glucocorticoids induces ...

Introduction: Both subclinical hyperthyroidism and type 2 diabetes (T2D) have been associated with an increase in cardiovascular disease risk and mortality. We aimed to assess the prevalence of newly diagnosed subclinical hyperthyroidism in a cohort of patients with T2D, and also to analyse the relationships between diabetes-related characteristics and the presence of subclinical hyperthyroidism.Methods: Nine hundred and thirty-three diabetic patients wi...

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Objective: In the marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) the LH is functionally replaced by the chorionic gonadotropin (CG). However, disparate to the human LH/hCG system, marmoset CG is expressed in both, the pituitary and in the placenta. Previously, we could show the presence of a tissue-specific promoter system in the marmoset. Alternative promoters, as well as different first exons, either a pituitary or a novel placenta specific one, are being employed to direct tissue spe...

Introduction: Cellular differentiation and development of germ cells critically depend on a coordinated activation and repression of specific genes. The underlying regulation mechanisms, however, are largely unknown. Here, we describe the interplay between two transcription factors to be critical for cell type-specific expression in testis.Methods: We investigated the binding of CREMτ (cAMP response element modulator tau) and GCNF (germ cell nuclear...