Endocrine Abstracts

Background and Objective: Information on the long-term effects of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) use on the myocellular properties of human skeletal muscle is scarce, despite being the primary target of AAS. Animal studies suggest persistence of upregulated myonuclei numbers following AAS discontinuation. Few human studies have investigated the effects of AAS on human skeletal muscle cell morphology and exclusively focused on current AAS users. No data exist elucidating th...

Patients on hydrocortisone (HC) replacement for pituitary failure, Addisons disease or congenital adrenal hyperplasia are at risk of developing an Addisonian crisis if they become unwell with a severe infection or injury. This can be averted by prompt administration of intramuscular HC, traditionally by a medial professional. From 2004 we offered training to patients and a carer/partner in self-administration of HC. This was time consuming and the take up was slow. We therefor...

Macroprolactin(mPRL)is a high molecular weight form of prolactin(PRL)most commonly due to formation of a complex with IgG.The PRL in mPRL remains reactive in immunoassays for PRL and the complex has a longer plasma half life than monomeric PRL.mPRL is a common cause of hyperprolactinaemia but its origin is not known and the complex has minimal bioactivity in vivo.The clinical significance of hyperprolactinaemia due to mPRL is that it can cause diagnostic confusion and lead to ...

Introduction: Selenium supplementation is recommended for all patients with mild Graves’ orbitopathy (GO). The thyroid gland contains high levels of selenium, which has an anti-oxidant effect and a role in the metabolism of thyroid hormones. The study on which this recommendation is based was conducted in countries of a selenium-deficient region and did not measure subjects’ selenium concentrations. There is therefore no consensus on optimum dose, duration, or safety...

Gonadotropin releasing-hormone (GnRH or LHRH) regulates the hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis in vertebrates. GnRH neurons that regulate the HPG axis derive from progenitor cells in the nasal compartment and migrate along vomeronasal fibers across the cribriform plate into the forebrain. GnRH neurons migrate over a long route that provides many factors for guidance. Early in their migration, GnRH neurons always follow fibers; if fiber trajectories are altered, GnRH neur...

Foreign bodies represent a rare cause of granulomatous mastitis. In the last three years we diagnosed three women with granulomatous mastitis consecutive to exposure at building materials containing glass fibers. All of them were young (21–34 years), with regular menses, without any pathological histories and were admitted to our hospital for bilateral galactorrhea spontaneous in one case and by squeezing the nipple in the other two cases. Clinical and ultrasonographic ev...

Background: Serotonergic signalling has been implicated in numerous hypothalamic functions including circadian rhythmicity, feeding and the modulation of neuroendocrine systems. In spite of the importance of these functions, the neuroanatomy of the serotonergic system in the human hypothalamus is still unknown.Aim and methods: To increase insight in hypothalamic serotonin signalling in humans, we investigated the distribution of serotonin transporters (S...

The extracellular matrix protein laminin forms polymers both in vivo and in vitro. Acidification of pH leads to the formation of an artificial polymer with biomimetical properties, named poly-laminin (polyLM). Follicular cells in the thyroid are in close contact with laminin, but their response to this important extracellular signal is still poorly understood. Thyroid PCCL3 epithelial cells cultivated either on glass, regular laminin (LM) or laminin previously po...

Background: Skeletal muscle is known to be a target of THs, regulating oxygen consumption, fiber composition, calcium mobilization and glucose uptake. However, a possible role for THs in muscle homeostasis and cellular metabolism under pathological has never been investigated. Food deprivation induces skeletal muscle atrophy, causing metabolic changes, and forcing the tissue to utilize fatty acid as the main oxidation substrate. Aim of this project was to understand whether T3...

Animals that are not exposed to endogenous sex steroids during development provide an important model for studying hormone independent development of brain sex differences. Due to gonadal agenesis, male and female steroidogenic factor 1 knockout (SF-1 KO) mice are born phenotypically female. Normally, they die shortly after birth due to adrenal insufficiency. Early corticosteroid injections followed by adrenal transplantation can maintain SF-1 KO mice into adulthood. As severa...