Endocrine Abstracts

The selenoenzyme plasma glutathione peroxidase (GPx3, pGPx) is highly expressed in thyroid, kidney, placenta and bronchio-epithelial tissue. In the thyroid gland, the enzyme is thought to regulate thyroid hormone production by controlling the availability of H2O2, the cosubstrate for thyroperoxidase (TPO) and to protect the thyrocyte against H2O2-induced oxidative damage. To explain the high thyroidal expression levels, we studied GP...

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) exhibit broad spectrum of biological activities in various tissues, including bone, cartilage, blood vessels, heart, kidney, neurons, liver and lung. BMPs are members of the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) family that bind to type II and type I serine-threonine kinase receptors, and transduce signals through Smad and non-Smad signalling pathways. BMPs together with other intraovarian growth factors are intimately involved in re...

Context: Klinefelter Syndrome (KS) patients, defined by a 47 XXY karyotype, were long considered infertile. Testicular sperm extraction (TESE) now allows some of these patients to access fatherhood. The predictive factors for success, however, remain unknown.Patients and methods: Non-mosaic KS patients with azoospermia or severe cryptozoospermia on two semen analyses without any other spermatogenesis disorder were included. They were sorted into two age ...

Introduction: The human fetal adrenals (HFA) produce high levels of steroids. The gland is distinguishable from the 7th gestational week and can be separated in two zones: the fetal zone in the center which correspond of 80 % of the gland and the definitive zone in the periphery. At this time of the development, neural crest cells are reaching the adrenal primordium, producing catecholamines. A third zone, the transitional zone appears later in the early 2nd</s...