Endocrine Abstracts

GH has diverse direct effects including the induction of lipolysis in adipocytes and mineralisation in bone. Interestingly, pluripotent mesenchymal stem cells can be isolated and cultured from adult bone marrow and induced to differentiate in vitro to both adipocytes and osteoblasts. GHR activation can be coupled to JAK2/STAT5 and the ERK (MAPK) pathway. We have therefore studied the evolution of GHR-associated cell signalling in adult rat BMSC’s during differentia...

We previously showed that adenosine stimulates IL-6 secretion from TtT/GF cells suggesting that adenosine is an important regulator of folliculostellate (FS) cell function. Gap-junction communication is also important for FS cell function so the aim of this study was to investigate the action of adenosine on connexin 43 (Cx 43) expression and intercellular communication.Adenosine production, as measured by reverse-phase fluorescent HPLC, was easily detec...

The nucleoside adenosine is an important regulator of interleukin-6 secretion from the folliculostellate (FS) cells of the anterior pituitary gland but the source of adenosine in this scenario is unknown. Therefore the aim of this study was to investigate secretion of adenosine and the expression of adenosine forming and metabolising enzymes in the pituitary gland.Ecto-5/-nucleotidase (CD73), adenosine kinase and adenosine deaminase (AD) were ...

A 22 year old lady, in her third pregnancy, presented at 35 weeks gestation with modest hypertension (BP 130/90). She was known to carry a high risk mutation for Von Hippel Lindau syndrome with no prior disease manifestations. Urinary catecholamine levels were normal at 18 weeks gestation and she remained asymptomatic throughout her pregnancy. Repeat measurement at 35 weeks demonstrated elevated noradrenaline and normetadrenaline values (1761 nmol/24h and 9.69 micromol/24h res...

Microprolactinomas are the commonest pituitary tumour and respond well to dopamine agonist (DA) therapy with resolution of symptoms and tumour shrinkage occurring in the vast majority of cases. Reports also suggest that up to 20% of cases may achieve long-term normoprolactinaemic remission following withdrawal of chronic dopamine agonist therapy yet interruption of therapy is not universally practised nor is there consensus on the duration of therapy. In this retrospective stu...

We present two patients with unusual manifestations of sarcoidosis and review gonadal involvement in this rare but important disease. A 27 year old man presented to the Ophthalmologists at our hospital with a red eye. He was diagnosed with anterior uveitis and commenced on topical corticosteroids. Following discovery of a testicular mass, he underwent testicular ultrasonography which demonstrated bilateral hyperechoic lesions. Histological examination of an open surgical biops...

Folliculostellate (FS) cells form a three-dimensional network within the anterior pituitary gland and play a key role in regulating the endocrine response to inflammation and anoxic stress. Adenosine, released under such conditions in high concentration, modulates a number of inflammatory processes and can regulate the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The identities of the adenosine receptor (AR) subtypes mediating these responses, however, and the si...

Clin Endocrinology (Oxf), 2022, 96, 878-887 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/cen.14681): ...

Context: Suboptimal thyroid function in pregnancy is associated with adverse obstetric outcomes but it is unclear whether levothyroxine treatment, initiated during pregnancy is beneficial.Design & Participants: Retrospective analysis of the Controlled Antenatal Thyroid Screening (CATS) study with obstetric outcomes obtained through data-linkage in the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) databank. We studied 13,224 pregnant women; 12,608 had ...

Background: The Controlled Antenatal Thyroid Screening II (CATS) study, a large randomised trial of thyroxine supplementation for suboptimal gestational thyroid function (SGTF), reported a higher prevalence of elevated attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) scores in 9 year-old children exposed to higher thyroid hormone (TH) in utero. Here we investigated if this was accompanied by altered neurodevelopment.Methods: 85 children aged 11-1...