Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Cigarette smoking is one of the most serious substance abuse problems. It is generally accepted that nicotine and other chemicals in tobacco smoke alter endocrine function in women, induce changes in female hormonal balance and likely contributes to reported associations of smoking with adverse reproductive outcomes, including menstrual dysfunction, infertility, and earlier menopause. Studies on the effects of smoking and smoking cessation on female sex hormones ...

Introduction: Measurement of urinary cortisol is often used to assess disease activity in patients with suspected or proven hypercortisolism. However, specific reference ranges are lacking for some of the newer assays. This study analyzed upper limits of normal (ULN, mean+2S.D.) for two analytical procedures (GC–MS, ECLIA) in relation to various independent variables. Besides, the influence of different storage conditions was investigated (by ECLIA).<p ...

Background: A high percentage of adult smokers try to quit, but most of these attempts fail. The ability to predict the success or failure of smoking cessation efforts will be useful for clinical practice. Stress response is regulated by two primary neuroendocrine systems. Salivary cortisol has been used as a marker for the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenocortical axis and salivary α-amylase as a marker for the sympathetic adrenomedullary system.Method...

The majority of pregnancy steroids originate in the fetal zone of the fetal adrenal (FZ). The data in the literature indicates that placental CRH directly stimulates the FZ. Despite the substantial alterations in the placental CRH production in late pregnancy, the predictivity of CRH for an estimation of term is poor. To sidetrack the expensive determination of unstable CRH, it may be expediential to use the FZ steroids. However, even these substances may not be optimal for pr...

Introduction: 7-hydroxyl DHEA derivatives are labelled as natural anti-glucocorticoid and neuroprotective substances. Their impact on the production of cytokines, their activation of apoptosis, influence on the migration of macrophages to peripheral tissue, their possible effect on angiogenesis, effect on inflammatory mediators (arachidonic acid metabolites) and their role in the mechanism of oxidative stress have been described.Methods: In our study we ...

Melatonin has a key role in circadian timing system. At present, many other functions of melatonin are known. It shows a remarkable functional versatility exhibiting antioxidant (direct free radical scavenging and indirect antioxidant activities), oncostatic, anti-aging, immunomodulatory properties and many other functions. In addition to pineal gland, gastrointestinal tract is the second biggest source of melatonin. Question remains whether changes in endogenous melatonin may...

Glucocorticoids suppress insulin secretion, inhibit glucose uptake in peripheral tissues, and promote gluconeogenesis in the liver. These effects are known to be mediated via genomic mechanisms of slow onset. Despite recent evidence on rapid non-genomic glucocorticoid signaling in several organs, there is no information on rapid glucocorticoid effects on carbohydrate metabolism in humans.Here we present data on the rapid effects of hydrocortisone on the ...

Background: In experimental studies, a high fluid intake and a corresponding high urine volume have been shown to increase renal excretion rates of urinary free cortisol (UFF) and cortisone (UFE) in adults. We aimed to examine whether 24-h urinary steroid excretion rates are also affected by urine volume in children.Methods: In 24-h urine samples of 100 prepubertal and 100 pubertal healthy children UFF, UFE, tetrahydrocortisol, 5α-tetrahydrocortisol...

Adrenomedullin is a vasoactive peptide originally discovered in extracts of human pheochromocytoma. It is highly expressed in plasma and adipose tissue of obese subjects and considered as a member of the adipokine family. Adrenomedullin inhibits adipogenesis under the transcriptional control of insulin. We determined plasma adrenomedullin concentrations in a cohort of 360 healthy subjects and found a very significant positive correlation to body mass index (BMI). In parallel, ...

Ghrelin and PYY are gastrointestinal peptides involved in appetite regulation. The cholinergic part of the vagal nerve participate in the regulation of glucose and insulin levels. We aimed to examine the effects of the cholinergic antagonist atropine on ghrelin, PYY, glucose and insulin under basal conditions and after meal ingestion in lean and obese subjects. Eight lean and eight obese subjects received in a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled crossover study design...