Endocrine Abstracts

The goal of this study was to determine whether orexin affects GnRH and LH secretions in the prepubertal rats fed normal or restricted diets. Forty prepubertal rats were randomly divided into 4 groups. Animals in groups 1 and 2 were fed normal and animals in groups 3 and 4 were fed restricted diet for 10 days. After 10 days, animals in groups 1 and 3 received infusions of 1 ug orexin and groups 2 and 4 received infusions of 2 ug orexin into their third ventricle. Blood samples...

Objective: Rimonabant has been shown to reduce weight, free androgen index (FAI) and insulin resistance in obese patients with PCOS compared to metformin. Metformin has also been shown to maintain the weight loss and enhance the metabolic and biochemical parameters achieved by treatment with rimonabant. We have determined the effect of rimonabant on the incretin hormones in patients with PCOS.Design: A randomized open labelled parallel study of metformin...

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which affects 7% of the female population, is associated with established cardiovascular risk factors including obesity, dyslipidaemia and insulin resistance. Thrombus formation represents the final step in the atherothrombotic process and clot structure has been shown to predict the predisposition to cardiovascular events. The aim of the present work was to assess the effects of commonly used therapeutic agents on clot structure and fibrinoly...

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is characterised by hyperandrogenism and insulin resistance. It is thought that androgen excess contributes to the mechanism of insulin resistance. Granulosa cells in PCOS demonstrate impaired insulin-induced glucose uptake and lactate accumulation1. The aim of this study was to characterise insulin signalling (via the PI3-Kinase (PI3-K) pathway) and glucose metabolism in an immortalised mouse granulosa cell line (KK1)2, a...

In utero exposure of female lambs to testosterone affects ovarian function such that ovaries contain multiple, abnormally large antral follicles. This study characterises further the follicular and cellular abnormalities underlying excessive and prolonged large antral follicle growth. Pregnant Poll Dorset ewes were injected twice weekly (30–90 days of gestation) with 100 mg of testosterone propionate in 1 ml oil, while controls received vehicle injection only. Andr...

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the commonest cause of anovulatory infertility in women. Recent evidence suggests that early folliculogenesis is disordered and may contribute to development of anovulation in PCOS. Early follicle development in PCOS is characterised by increased expression of minichromosome maintenance protein-2 (MCM2), a marker of cell proliferation (Stubbs et al. 2007). Increased recruitment of growing preantral follicles has been reported in the p...

Background: In men inhibin B is correlated with sperm count, concentration and testicular volume. Anti-müllerian hormone (AMH) is significantly positively correlated with inhibin B and significantly negatively correlated with FSH. Raised FSH is a traditional marker of infertility. Young male cancer patients treated with gonadotoxic agents are at high risk of hypogonadism (HG). The relationship between inhibin B and AMH with serum total testosterone is unclear.<p class...

The epidemic-like increase in obesity in young people is paralleled by a rise in related diseases such as PCOS, especially in pubertal girls. Kisspeptins, encoded by the KiSS1 gene, are firmly linked with the normal control of the reproductive system and loss-of-function mutations are associated with absence of puberty. Although KiSS1 is predominantly expressed in the hypothalamus (HYP), we detected KiSS1 mRNA in rat pituitary (PIT) and adipose tissue (FAT...

Objective: Insulin-like growth factor-II (IGF-II), a critical regulator of placental development, enhances proliferation and survival of human cytotrophoblasts by signalling through the IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R). Excess IGF-II binds to IGF-2R, which mediates its transport to the lysosomes for degradation. Although considered to act solely as an IGF-II clearance receptor, IGF-2R has been implicated in mediating IGF-II-stimulated migration and invasion in trophoblast. We therefore...

Background: Turner syndrome (TS) affects 1:2500 live births. Mean age of death is reported 27.9±25.5 years due to cardiovascular complications. Expert care is required for better outcome.Aim: To review data on presentation and follow-up of a large series of patients with TS attending our Adult TS clinic.Patients and methods: The records of 64 out of 72 patients were available for review.Results: About 56...

Background: In XY disorders of sex development, a single measurement of serum Anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) may replace the hCG stimulation test.Aim: To assess the level of concordance between serum AMH and hCG stimulated testosterone concentrations.Methods: About 284 children (M:F,154:130) with a median age of 8 years (10th, 90th centiles, 0.25,14) were used to establish a normal reference range for AMH. Clinical data were reviewed...

Feeding a cafeteria diet in rodent pregnancy can induce altered food preferences and greater weight gain in the resulting offspring. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of diet induced obesity or high fat feeding on maternal adaptation to pregnancy.Three week-old Wistar rats were fed either chow diet alone (n=24) or cafeteria diet (n=24) for 8 weeks before mating. After mating, the rats were maintained on the chow diet (CO/CF) (...

Background: Altering maternal nutrition affects fetal development, potentially predisposing them to later metabolic disease. Tissue sensitivity to cortisol is regulated, in part, by GR and 11βhsd1 and 2, and GR and 11βhsd1 expression is known to be raised both with obesity and type 2 diabetes.Objectives: To examine whether gestational diet influences GR and11βhsd1 and 2 mRNA expression in the neonatal liver.Methods: ...

Background: A variety of preparations for testosterone replacement therapy are currently available. Testogel, a transdermal gel, is widely used and considered one of the most convenient. However, a wide variation in the increment of serum testosterone two hours after its application has been reported.Aim: To investigate whether skin thickness affects the absorption of testogel.Subjects and methods: Fourteen patients (mean age 55.4 ...

It has previously been shown that protein restriction during pregnancy impairs the physiological adaption to pregnancy by reducing plasma volume expansion. This may mediate the effects of maternal diet on placental and fetal development. This study investigated the mechanisms by which maternal diet interacts with plasma volume expansion.Female Wistar rats were mated and fed a control (18%, n=32) or low protein (9%, n=32) diet during pregnan...

Although improvements in obstetric and neonatal care in recent years have led to reduction in morbidity and mortality from pre-eclampsia, our ability to predict the condition has not improved significantly. Endothelial dysfunction underlies many of the manifestations of pre-eclampsia. In this study we will assess methods of detecting endothelial dysfunction and arterial stiffness in high-risk pregnant women in early and late pregnancy. Sixty women with 2 or more risk fa...

Background: Metformin is an established treatment of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) but patient-reported outcomes with respect to its effects and tolerability have not been widely reported. About 68 patients with PCOS treated with metformin in our clinic were surveyed by questionnaire.Results: a. Demographics: 42/68 patients were currently, and 26 previously treated with metformin for PCOS. Median age and BMI was 31 years (range 16–49), and ...

There is a known correlation between dyslipidaemia and hypogonadism in diabetes. In non-diabetic men, calculated free testosterone correlates better than total testosterone with the elements of the metabolic syndrome. The aim of this study is to investigate if this was also true in diabetic men.Methods: This is a retrospective observational study. We analyzed biochemical parameters from 140 sequential male diabetic patients who attended the diabetic erec...

Introduction: It is rare for patients with morbid obesity to become pregnant without assisted reproductive support. Spontaneous conception of triplets and their successful delivery by caesarean section is hitherto unreported. We report the case of world’s heaviest mother to undergo caesarean section with good outcome for mother and the babies.Case history: A 24 year old lady was seen in the antenatal clinic at 11 weeks of pregnancy. She weighed 140 ...

CaHASE is a multicentre cross-sectional study of the health status of adults with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). Although fertility is considered to be reduced in both sexes, few published series report the proportion that has actively sought pregnancy. About 203 patients were recruited from 17 centres. Four patients (3, 11-hydroxylase, 1 HSD3B2 deficient) were excluded from analysis. Demographics are shown in Table 1.<table boarder="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="...

Kisspeptin, encoded by the KiSS-1 gene activates the G protein coupled receptor 54 (GPR54). The kisspeptin/GPR54 system plays an essential role regulating reproductive development. The human placenta has a high expression of both the KiSS-1 and GPR54 genes. Plasma kisspeptin levels increase several thousand fold in pregnancy. The physiological role of kisspeptin in pregnancy is not clear. Kisspeptin causes vasoconstriction during in vitro studies and may play a r...

Prostaglandin (PG) E2 acts through its receptors (EP1–4) to modulate myometrial contractions and cervical ripening at term gestation. Although uterine PGE2 biosynthesis is augmented with labour progression (Durn et al. 2008); functional EP1–4 receptors have yet to be determined. To characterise these receptors in gravid human myometrium, in vitro responses to selective and novel EP agonists were investigated b...