Endocrine Abstracts

Obesity is caused by an imbalance between dietary energy intake and expenditure. The expression of dopamine receptors (DRs) in human adipocytes has been already demonstrated. Moreover, the effects of cabergoline, a dopamine agonist, on body weight and glucose homeostasis in obese subjects without hyperprolactinemia has already been reported. The current study investigates the effects of cabergoline on lipid accumulation and on adipogenic factors expression to better define the...

Introduction: Bilateral inferior petrosal sinus sampling (BIPSS) is the test that offers the highest diagnostic accuracy in the differential diagnosis between pituitary and ectopic Cushng’s syndrome (CS). The aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic accuracy of BIPSS performed in the last six years, after the change in the technical procedure with that performed in the past period in Naples centre.Patients and methods: Seventeen patients with...

Introduction: Hyperprolactinemia is reportedly associated with an impaired metabolic profile, particularly in patients with concomitant hypogonadism. The current study aimed at investigating the effects of short (12 months) and long (60 months) treatment with cabergoline (CAB) on metabolic complications, metabolic syndrome (MS) prevalence and visceral adiposity index (VAI) in hyperprolactinemic patients.Patients and methods: Seventy-one patients (51 F, 2...

Introduction: Generously supported by IPSEN)-->Glucocorticoids (GC) have a stimulatory effect on neutrophils and an inhibitory effect on the other leukocyte subpopulations. A potential stimulatory effect on erythropoiesis has been also hypothesized. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of pasireotide treatment on hemochrome parameters in patients with endogenous pituitary-dependent glucocorticoid excess or Cushing’s d...

Aim: To evaluate the effects of short and long-term treatment with PEG on rhythm disturbances in a cohort of acromegalic patients resistant to long-term high-dose therapy with SA.Patients and methods: Thirteen patients (4 M, 9 F, aged 44±9.25 years) entered the study. All patients started PEG at initial dose of 10 mg daily, then increased of 5 mg every 6 weeks on the basis of IGF1 levels, until IGF1 normalisation or until the achievement of the maxi...

Adrenal insufficiency is a rare endocrine disorder characterized by low levels of cortisol associated with increased mortality, also due to inadequate replacement therapy. The replacement with the thrice-daily immediate release hydrocortisone (IRH), in contrast to the once-daily modified-release hydrocortisone (MRH), more appropriately mimicking the physiological circadian rhythm of cortisol (PCRC), is associated with metabolic disorders, mainly due to the non-physiological pe...

Insulin resistance (IR), characterized by an impairment of target tissues to insulin responsiveness, is the core defect preceding diabetes. Preclinical and clinical data have suggested a role for the dopaminergic system in glucose homeostasis control. The aim of the current study was to investigate the role of the dopamine agonist cabergoline (CAB), displaying high affinity for dopamine type 2 (DR2) receptor and low affinity for serotonin receptors (5-HTRs), in the regulation ...

The transcriptional activator Bmal1, reaching acrophase in the morning and bathyphase in the evening, is the main regulator of circadian clock. A mutual interaction between circadian clock and glucocorticoids (GCs) has been described as well as their implication in muscle metabolism. The current in vitro study aims at investigating Bmal1 involvement in muscle catabolism induced by GCs circadian exposure. To this aim, mouse myocytes C2C12 were serum-shocked to synchron...

In vitro studies suggest that glucocorticoids (GC) long-term exposure downregulates SSTR2 but not SSTR5 expression in human and mouse ACTH-secreting tumor cells (AtT20), limiting the efficacy of octreotide (OCT), a somatostatin-receptor ligand with high affinity for SSTR2, in the treatment of Cushing’s disease (CD). In AtT20, dexamethasone treatment increased miR-375 expression, whose analysis revealed a seed-sequence for SSTR2, supporting the hypothesis that exc...

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is a disorder due to mutations of genes coding for adrenal steroidogenesis enzymes, commonly caused by 21α-hydroxylase enzyme deficiency. Severe impairment of 21α-hydroxylase synthesis results in the classic form of CAH (c-CAH) characterized by cortisol and aldosterone deficiency (salt wasting form - SW), or partial enzyme deficiency characterized by cortisol deficiency (simple virilizing form - SV); mild impairment of 21α-hy...