Endocrine Abstracts

Overconsumption of fructoseenriched beverages and everyday stress are both involved in the pathogenesis of metabolic disorders through their effects on hepatic lipid metabolism. The aim of this study was to investigate whether highfructose diet and chronic stress synergistically perturbs lipid metabolism in rat liver. Therefore, we analyzed the effects of 9-week 20% liquid fructose diet and 4-week chronic unpredictable stress, separately and in combination, on dyslipidemia, VL...

Patients with congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (cHH; also referred to as idiopathic HH) have inadequately low gonadotropin and sex steroid levels for age without an underlying organic or functional cause. The combination of cHH and deficient sense of smell is called Kallmann syndrome (KS; incidence 1:30 000 in Finnish boys, and 1:125 000 in girls), which is due to misrouting of primitive GnRH neurons in utero from the olfactory placodal area to the developing ...

RANK and RANKL are essential for mammary gland development in mice. We demonstrated that RANK signalling promotes proliferation and impairs mammary epithelial differentiation in mice. RANK and RANKL expression is detected in breast cancer cells. MMTV-RANK acini show hallmarks of transformation in a RANKL dependent manner. After multiple pregnancies MMTV-RANK females spontaneously develop adenocarcinomas, and after DMBA (dimethylbenz(a)anthracene) and MPA (medroxiprogesterone) ...

Introduction/aim: There is growing evidence to suggest that retinal neurodegeneration is an early event in the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy (DR). Somatostatin (SST) has a neuroprotective action and we previously found a downregulation of SST associated with the hallmarks of retinal neurodegeneration (glial activation and apoptosis) in human retinas. The aim of the study was to test the hypothesis that SST is useful in preventing retinal neurodegeneration.<p class="...

Multiphoton microscopy has defined standards for 3D fluorescence and higher harmonic generation analysis of cells and tissue structures in vitro and in vivo. Compared to single-photon excited confocal microscopy, two-photon microscopy utilizes near-infrared (NIR) excitation generating twice to multi-fold enhanced tissue penetration, reduced light scattering and minimized phototoxicity and photobleaching at out-of-focus regions, yet preserves submicron spatial res...

Obesity, insulin resistance and high cholesterol levels are hallmarks of the metabolic syndrome. The molecular players involved in the onset of the metabolic syndrome are mostly unknown. In this context the three pseudokinases of the tribbles family have emerged as potential candidates. Among them, TRB3 has been described as a negative regulator of Akt, a key player in insulin signal transduction. However, the biological functions of TRB family members remain largely unknown. ...

Definition: High blood pressure due to excessive activation of mineralocorticoid receptors (MR).Consequences of an excess in MR activation are an excess in sodium and water retention, an expansion of plasma volume and a depletion of exchangeable body potassium.Laboratory hallmarks of mineralocorticoid hypertension are a suppressed renin secretion and a tendency to develop hypokalemia.Causes: The most frequent...

Identification of pure neural androgenic effects is difficult due to 1) regional distribution of androgen receptors (AR) in the CNS; 2) cross-talk between molecular pathways of steroid hormone signalling, and 3) chemical nature and biotransformation of androgens in the CNS. Testosterone is transformed in the CNS by 5α-reductase and aromatase to the pure AR-agonist dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and the estrogen receptor-agonist estradiol, respectively. Decreased sexual activit...

Turner’s syndrome is one of the most common chromosomal abnormalities affecting 1 in 2500 live births. Short stature and gonadal dysgenesis are known as the hallmarks of the syndrome since Henry Turner described the original cases in the late 1930s. Although the majority of these patients have streak ovaries as a result of stromal fibrosis, the uterus is intact, albeit with atrophic endometrium due to the hypoestrogenic state. We report a case of ...

One of the hallmarks of parturition in most mammals is a dramatic drop in plasma levels of progesterone (P4), which promotes myometrial relaxation, prior to labor. In humans and some other primates however, the opposite occurs and placental P4 production increases with advancing pregnancy. The expression of nuclear progesterone receptor (PR)-responsive genes is decreased in the primate uterus at term, which suggests ‘functional’ progestin withdrawal involves repressi...