Endocrine Abstracts

The syndrome of inappropriate antidiuresis (SIAD) is characterised by plasma hyponatraemia and plasma hypoosmolality with a high urinary sodium in a clinically euvolaemic patient. We describe only the second reported case of SIAD due to carboplatin administration, with consequent acute severe hyponatraemia.A 61-year-old lady with no background history of note received neoadjuvant carboplatin and paclitaxel for stage III ovarian carcinoma. Five days after...

CNP, the third peptide of the mammalian natriuretic peptide family, exerts its biological effects through activation of the guanylyl cyclase B (GC-B) receptor and resulting cGMP accumulation. Our previous studies reported that CNP stimulates phosphorylation of MAPK family proteins in GH3 somatotrophs. This present study aimed to further characterise the mechanism of CNP-stimulated ERK phosphorylation and resulting biological consequences in GH3 cells. Western blot analyses sho...

Natriuretic peptides, ANP, BNP and CNP, exert the majority of their effects via particulate guanylyl cyclase receptors (GC-A or GC-B), resulting in increased cellular cGMP levels. Several studies have examined the pharmacological properties of GC-B receptors in many systems, and desensitization (tachyphylaxis, loss of response) has been reported to occur. Targeted deletion (in mice) or genetic mutations (in humans) of the GC-B receptor have been implicated in a dwarfism phenot...

Gonadotrophs have previously been shown to be the predominant source of C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) in the anterior pituitary, and CNP causes enhanced cGMP accumulation in αT3-1 gonadotrophs. However, the biological role of CNP in gonadotrophs remains elusive. In the current study, we examined the molecular and functional characteristics of the gonadotroph natriuretic peptide system. Using two well-characterised gonadotroph cell lines of different developmental origi...

Objective: Our aim was to identify and treat sleep disorders in asymptomatic patients with craniopharyngioma and to identify co-existing respiratory disease.Methods: 5 patients (1 male) with a diagnosis of craniopharyngioma, were identified from the local pituitary database and admitted for polysomnography (Alice 4, Respironics), as part of a study of hypothalamic disease in craniopharyngioma. Sleep disturbance was defined as an apnoea index (AHI) of &#6...

In target tissues, CNP acts via the cell surface guanylyl cyclase B (GC-B) receptor to stimulate cGMP accumulation. Transgenic mice studies deleting either CNP or the GC-B receptor suggest a role for CNP in regulating bone formation and pituitary growth hormone secretion. Our previous studies have implicated a role for CNP in inhibiting calcium transients in alphaT3-1 pituitary gonadotroph cells; however the biological consequence of cGMP accumulation remains unclear. Therefor...

Anterior pituitary dysfunction is a well-recognized complication of traumatic brain injury (TBI) but recovery is an exceptional event, with only three previously published case reports.We report a case of a 25 year old man who suffered severe TBI in a road traffic accident in 1997. His neurological recovery was slow and incomplete with significant cognitive deficit and recurrent seizures. He developed polyphagia and his weight increased by 20 Kilograms i...

There is little information on the effects on pituitary function of cranial irradiation for non-pituitary tumours. We have studied anterior and posterior pituitary function in 17 patients (6 males), with a median age 19 years (range 5-48) at the time of radiotherapy. 16 patients had primary brain tumours and one had acute lymphocytic leukaemia. The patients were selected by the radiotherapists for investigation . Pituitary functions were assessed at a median of 60 months (rang...

Background: To determine whether radioiodine remnant ablation (RRA) reduces cause-specific mortality (CSM) or tumor recurrence (TR) rates after bilateral thyroidectomy (BT) in low-risk adult papillary thyroid carcinoma (APTC) patients treated with curative intent, we compared outcome in 1836 stage I patients having BT alone with 832 having BT+RRA.Methods: THEN cohort (1966-1990) comprised 809 patients; 36% having RRA within 6 postoperative months. NOW co...

Objectives: Childhood papillary thyroid cancer (CPTC) often presents with advanced disease but rarely results in cause-specific mortality (CSM). Controversy remains regarding optimal management and association with non-thyroid second primary malignancies (NSPM). We analyzed outcome in 189 CPTC patients and assessed the influence of radioiodine remnant ablation (RRA) and the utility of the American Thyroid Association risk-groups (ATA-R) in predicting tumor recurrence (TR)....