Endocrine Abstracts

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE), a syndrome of neurological abnormalities caused by impaired liver function, is induced by many chronic liver diseases, such as liver failure or hepatic portosystemic shunts. Whilst multiple substances reach toxic levels in the systemic circulation of HE patients, hyperammonemia (excessive ammonia) is known to be a major contributing factor to the neurological disturbances. Astrocytes utilise ammonia in generating glutamine leading to brain oedema a...

The mammalian natriuretic peptide family consists of three members, Atrial-, B-type, and C-type natriuretic peptides (ANP, BNP, and CNP respectively), and exert their effects on blood pressure, sodium homeostasis, growth and reproduction, via their selective guanylyl cyclase receptors, GC-A or GC-B. Previous attempts to map spatial expression profiling have generated conflicting results, due predominantly to the range of techniques employed, and the relative paucity of tools t...

Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is common and serious, with no specific treatment. AKI may increase the risk of dysfunction in organs other than the kidney, further increasing the morbidity associated with AKI. The mechanisms of organ cross-talk after AKI are unclear. Small animal models have suggested that infiltration of inflammatory cytokines into extra-renal organs leads to cellular extravasation, oedema and further injury. In this study we used a large animal model ...