Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in post-menopausal women carries an increased risk of cardiovascular disease due to an unfavorable effect on lipid profile. Thus, HRT treatment increases concentrations of very-low-density-lipoprotein-triglycerides (VLDL-TGs) which have been demonstrated to possess atherogenic properties. However, the exact mechanisms whereby VLDL-TG concentrations are increased by estradiol are not fully understood. Estradiol acts on both rapid re...

Acromegalic patients under treatment with Octreotide LAR (Oct), 10, 20 or 30 mg were switched to Lanreotide Autogel 120 mg (Lan) at different dose intervals: 56, 42 and 28 days respectively. Just before the fourth Lan injection, IGF-I values were measured and the dose interval for the final three injections adjusted accordingly: if IGF-I values were between 1 and 2 standard deviations (S.D.) above the age and sex related mean value, no change in dose-interval wa...

Background: Central nervous insulin is critically involved in the regulation of body weight and memory processing. Long-term administration of intranasal insulin reduces body weight in men but not in women while improving hippocampus-dependent memory processing in both genders. Here, acute effects of intranasal insulin on food intake and memory functions were studied in men and women.Methods: Thirty-two healthy, normal-weight subjects (14 men, 18 women) ...

Within the adrenal gland, chromaffin cells and their progenitors are exposed to a wide variety of growth factors and hormones, including adrenal androgens such as DHEA. The DHEA producing-zona reticularis of the adrenal cortex is in close proximity to the neural crest-derived catecholamine-producing chromaffin cells of the medulla, enabling strong paracrine interactions. In vivo studies in humans revealed that congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase ...

Sepsis and septic shock remain a major health concern worldwide, and an intact adrenal cortex glucocorticoid (GC) stress response, is critical for organism to survive. Recently, we and others have shown that adrenal gland expresses members of toll-like receptors (TLRs) family which are known to sense pathogens and induce inflammatory response. Data performed on TLRs deficient mice clearly demonstrate a critical involvement of these receptors in immune-neuroendocrine bidirectio...

Background: Secretory activity of the hypothalamo-pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis typically increases during the second half of nocturnal sleep. Assuming that this rise in ACTH and cortisol levels occurs in response to the negative energy balance induced by nocturnal fasting and concomitant increases in cerebral glucose consumption during REM sleep, we examined the effects of glucose infusion on nocturnal HPA axis activity during wake and sleep periods.<p class="abstext"...

Development in autologous bone marrrow transplantation (auto-BMT) has improved survival, but new endocrine complications now emerge. If primary thyroid and gonadal deficiencies are documented in medical literature, pituitary deficiencies are less well-known, especially in adults. The aim of the study was to investigate pituitary function in patients who survived at least one year after transplantation for malignant haematologic disorders by a prospective study.<p class="ab...

Introduction: The activity of the somatotropic system displays a secretory maximum during early sleep which is also a period known to be important for memory consolidation. Blocking of the sleep-onset associated GH-surge by somatostatin did not affect memory performance but the contribution of growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) to memory processes is unclear. Here we assessed the influence of intranasal GHRH on memory function in waking subjects during the early part of t...

Introduction: In elderly humans sleep disturbances are associated with an impaired nocturnal inhibition of the hypothalamo–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis and chronic diseases like metabolic syndrome and depression. Recent experiments in young and healthy subjects demonstrated that intranasal ANP inhibited stimulated cortisol secretion during wakefulness whereas administration of intranasal insulin in the evening reduced cortisol levels in the morning after undisturbed ...

Background: Sucrose intake has been shown to normalize the disturbed neuroendocrine stress response in adrenalectomized rats. These previous data indicate a compensatory effect of energy supply on altered parameters in chronic cortisol deficiency. Thus, we hypothesized that glucose infusion may have similar beneficial effects in patients with Addison’s disease.Methods: We examined 10 patients with primary adrenal insufficiency who discontinued their...