Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: To evaluate the associations between baseline leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) or changes in LTPA during follow-up on long-term weight changes, and to investigate the effects of physical activity in participants with baseline BMI<25 kg/m2 and baseline BMI≥25 kg/m2.Material and methods: Data of the prospective dynamic cohort (SUN cohort) were used. In total 12 117 participants, all of them university graduat...

Chronically elevated GH levels in GH-transgenic mice derive in accelerated growth and increased body weight. These animals present increased circulating IGF-I and hepatic IGF-I mRNA levels, as well as liver enlargement due to hypertrophy and hyperplasia, which frequently progress to hepatomas as the animals age.We have previously described that the GH-induced JAK2/STAT5 signalling pathway is desensitized in the liver of transgenic mice overexpressing GH....

Background: A previous study suggested an increased absolute and intraindividual variability of insulin resistance (IR) in overweight women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) which may contribute to the increase in cardiovascular risk. There had been no previous data on the change in variability of IR in PCOS with treatment.Methods: PCOS women were recruited using the Rotterdam criteria [mean age (±S.E.M.) 26.4(±1.5)yrs and ...

Efficiency of superovulatory protocols in ruminants is affected by occurrence of several reproductive abnormalities, such as anovulatory follicles (Kafi and McGowan 1997, Animal Reproduction Science, 48:137-157). The aims of current study were to characterize, in sheep, the incidence and possible causes of anovulatory follicles, their endocrine functionality in terms of oestradiol production and possible effects on viability of embryos from other follicles. The number and size...

During early embryogenesis, the olfactory axons and gonadotrophin-releasing hormone(GnRH)-secreting neurons undergo dynamic processes of differentiation, migration and proliferation, regulated by a complex network of molecular and cellular mechanisms responding to various hormonal and developmental signals. Mutations in anosmin-1 and FGFR1 disrupt this pathway, causing Kallmann's syndrome(KS), a human hereditary disorder with GnRH deficiency and inability to smell. A primary n...

The insulin-like growth factor binding proteins (IGFBPs-1 to -6) complex IGF-I and -II and were originally assumed to limit IGF access to the main IGF signalling receptor (IGFR) and decrease IGF activity. IGFBP-5 is the most conserved of the IGFBPs. Examination of its primary sequence reveals that, in addition to the key IGF binding domain, additional functional motifs are present that are not related to its IGF binding function.IGFBP-5 is upregulated du...

Gene delivery to the CNS is undermined by the lack of suitable vectors capable of delivering genes with sufficient specificity, efficacy and safety. In previous studies we have shown that bacteriophage particles, which lack tropism for mammalian cells, can be genetically modified to display specific ligands that allow binding, internalisation and cell transduction of receptor-bearing target cells. Moreover, phage particles can be forced to evolve using combinatorial techniques...

GPR54 is a G protein coupled receptor identified in 2001 as the target for kisspeptin, the product of the KiSS-1 gene. Mutations in both kisspeptin and GPR54 lead to inherited failure to enter puberty (idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism) in the human, and a mutant mouse line with a targeted disruption of the Gpr54 receptor (Gpr54 -/-) has shown the same phenotype.Puberty begins when neurons in the hypothalamus begin pulsatile secretion of Gn...

Gene delivery to the CNS is undermined by the lack of suitable vectors capable of delivering genes with sufficient specificity, efficacy and safety. In previous studies we have shown that bacteriophage particles, which lack tropism for mammalian cells, can be genetically modified to display specific ligands that allow binding, internalisation and cell transduction of receptor-bearing target cells. Moreover, phage particles can be forced to evolve using combinatorial techniques...

The insulin-like growth factor binding proteins (IGFBPs-1 to -6) complex IGF-I and -II and were originally assumed to limit IGF access to the main IGF signalling receptor (IGFR) and decrease IGF activity. IGFBP-5 is the most conserved of the IGFBPs. Examination of its primary sequence reveals that, in addition to the key IGF binding domain, additional functional motifs are present that are not related to its IGF binding function.IGFBP-5 is upregulated du...