Neuroendocrinology

Introduction Somatotroph pituitary neuroendocrine tumours (PitNETs) are characterized by complex and variable biological behaviours with unpredictable patterns of growth and invasiveness. The molecular mechanisms and reliable predictors of biological markers of invasiveness remain unknown. Methods Seventy-two acromegaly patients were consecutively enrolled. Data-independent acquisition (DIA)-based proteomics and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) were conducted between invasive and noninvasive somatotroph PitNETs...

Background Survival of childhood-onset craniopharyngioma (cCP) is excellent, however many survivors suffer from hypothalamic-pituitary dysfunction. Growth hormone replacement therapy (GHRT) is of high importance for linear growth and metabolic outcome. Optimal timing for initiation of GHRT in cCP is on debate because of concerns regarding tumor progression or recurrence. Methods A systematic review and cohort study were performed for the effect and timing of GHRT on overall mortality, tumor progression/recurrence, and secondary tumors in cCP...

Glutamatergic dysfunction has been implicated in the pathophysiology of multiple conditions including epilepsy, chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), raising interest in potential ways of modifying glutamate in the nervous system. Emerging research has suggested an interactive effect between sex hormones and glutamatergic neurotransmission. The objective of this paper is to review existing literature on the mechanism of interaction between sex hormones and glutamatergic neurotransmission, as well as to explore what is known about these interactions in various neurological and psychiatric conditions...

INTRODUCTION: Oxytocin (OXT) is proposed as a potential therapeutic peptide for social dysfunction due to its modulatory actions on socioemotional regulation in humans. While the majority of studies have used intranasal OXT administration we have recently shown that oral (lingual spray), but not intranasal, administration can significantly enhance activity of the brain reward system in response to emotional faces in males, however its effects on females are unknown. METHODS: Seventy healthy females participated in the current randomized, placebo-controlled, pharmaco-imaging clinical trial and the results were compared with our previous data from 75 males who underwent the same protocol...

INTRODUCTION: Although the fluid inhibitory effects of estradiol are well characterized, a dipsogenic role of the hormone was recently identified. In ovariectomized (OVX) rats, unstimulated water intake, in the absence of food, was increased after estradiol treatment. METHODS: The goals for these experiments were to further characterize the fluid enhancing effects of estradiol by determining the estrogen receptor subtype mediating the dipsogenic effect, examining saline intake, and testing for a dipsogenic effect of estradiol in male rats...

BACKGROUND: Treatment response to the standard therapy is low for metastatic pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs) mainly due to the tumor heterogeneity. We investigated the heterogeneity between the primary PanNETs and the metastases to improve the precise treatment. METHODS: The genomic and transcriptomic data of PanNETs were retrieved from the Genomics, Evidence, Neoplasia, Information, Exchange (GENIE), and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database respectively...

INTRODUCTION: The combined oral contraceptive pill (COC) is often employed to address physical and neurological symptoms in menstrual cycle-related disorders by suppressing shifts in endogenous gonadal hormone fluctuations. Symptom persistence, especially in the lead up to the hormone free interval (HFI) suggests an underlying neurobiological mechanism of preserved cycling. Our study utilised a non-invasive method of visually inducing long-term potentiation (LTP) to index changes in neural plasticity in the absence of hormonal fluctuations...

Understanding the complex action mechanism of appetite regulation peptides can significantly impact therapeutic options in the treatment of obesity and other metabolic diseases. Hypothalamic α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH) is an anorexigenic peptide, closely related to the occurrence of obesity, playing a central role in food intake and energy expenditure. In the central nervous system (CNS), α-MSH is cleaved from proopiomelanocortin (POMC) and then released into different hypothalamic regions to act on melanocortin 3/4 receptor (MC3/4R)-expressing neurons, lowering food intake and raising energy expenditure via appetite suppression and sympathetic nervous system...

INTRODUCTION: The ability of PET/CT imaging to delineate neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) and predict prognosis in affected patients is often compromised by substantial uptake heterogeneity. We hereby proposed a hybrid standardized uptake value (SUV) thresholding algorithm to extract volumetric parameters from somatostatin receptor (SSTR) PET/CT imaging, and investigate their prognostic performance in patients with 68Ga-DOTATATE-avid stage IV NENs. METHODS: For 38 retrospectively enrolled patients, we used either fixed SUV thresholding of normal liver parenchyma (method A), 41% of the SUVmax for each lesion (method B), or a hybrid method (method A for liver metastases; fixed SUV threshold of normal bone for bone metastases; method B for primary tumors and other metastases) to quantify the whole-body SSTR-expressing tumor volume (SRETVwb) and total lesion SSTR expression (TLSREwb)...

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to investigate whether Cortexin®, a brain peptide containing agent, has any mitigating effect on high glucose-induced neuropathy using primary cultured rat sensory neurons. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Dorsal root ganglia (DRG) were excised from decapitated adult rats. Individual neurons were isolated following enzymatic and mechanical procedures. Cells were seeded on E-Plate® with gold microelectrodes, and maintained in conventional culture media in a CO2 incubator at 37 ºC...

IIntroduction Because dopaminergic signaling pathways are one of the regulators of autoimmunity, we hypothesize that the -521C>T DRD4 gene polymorphism may correlate with the risk of diabetes mellitus type 1 (DM1) and its comorbidities. Methods The connection of the -521C>T DRD4 gene polymorphism with the DM1 and its comorbidities as well as the levels of serum pro- and anti-inflammatory markers, lipid profiles and values of monocyte subsets was evaluated. Results The key results of our study are as follows: 1) CC genotype and C allele are associated with a reduced risk of DM1 development (OR = 0...

Water balance is fundamental to all homeostasis. The hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis influences water balance through the effects of corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) and cortisol on arginine vasopressin (AVP) secretion, and the peripheral effects of cortisol on hemodynamic and renal water handling. In this review, we explore the complex interplay of glucocorticoids with water balance, with particular attention to hyponatremia and pituitary surgery.

Introduction Asprosin is an adipokine released from white adipose tissue during fasting and acts through the olfactory receptor. It is known that adipokines play roles in reproductive physiology in mammals. However, there are very few studies conducted on role of asprosin in reproductive functions. There are no studies on its relationship with sexual motivation. It was shown in the literature that administration of asprosin to male mice improves olfaction. It is also known that there is a strong correlation between smell and sexual desire...

INTRODUCTION: Preclinical literature, frequently utilizing rats, suggest females display a more rapid advancement of substance abuse and a greater risk of relapse following drug abstinence. In clinical populations, it is less clear as to what extent biological sex is a defining variable in the acquisition and maintenance of substance use. Even without considering environmental experiences, genetic factors are presumed to critically influence the vulnerability to addiction. Genetically diverse mouse models provide a robust tool to examine the interactions between genetic background and sex differences in substance abuse...

INTRODUCTION: Early life ethanol exposure is known to program hypothalamic proopiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons to express a reduced level of POMC and its control of stress axis functions throughout the life span. In this study we tested whether miRNAs contribute to the ethanol-induced suppression of Pomc gene expression during the developmental period. METHODS: In in vivo studies, POMC-EGFP male mice were fed with 2.5 g/kg ethanol using milk formula (AF) or pair-fed isocaloric milk formula (PF) or left in the litter (AD) during postnatal day (PND)-2-6...

Introduction Patients with neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) may often develop other malignancies. This study aimed to identify the frequency at which these second malignancies occurred in England. Methods Data was extracted from the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS) on all patients diagnosed with a NEN at one of eight NEN site groups between 2012-2018: appendix, caecum, colon, lung, pancreas, rectum, small intestine and stomach. WHO International Classification of Disease edition 10 (ICD-10) codes were used to identify patients who had been diagnosed with an additional non-NEN cancer...

INTRODUCTION: Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) and its primary receptor (CRFR1) are critical regulators of behavioral and neuroendocrine stress responses. CRFR1 has also been associated with stress-related behavioral changes in postpartum mice. Our previous studies indicate dynamic changes in CRFR1 levels and coupling of CRFR1 with tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and oxytocin (OT) neurons in postpartum mice. In this study, we aimed to determine the time course of these changes during the postpartum period...

BACKGROUND: Small intestinal neuroendocrine tumours (siNETs) are rare neoplasms which present with low mutational burden and can be subtyped based on copy number variation (CNV). Currently, siNETs can be molecularly classified as having chromosome 18 loss of heterozygosity (18LOH), multiple CNVs (MultiCNV), or no CNVs. 18LOH tumours have better progression free survival when compared to MultiCNV and NoCNV tumours, however the mechanism underlying this is unknown, and clinical practice does not currently consider CNV status...

RATIONALE: Women are more vulnerable than men in many aspects of opioid use disorder (OUD); a major theory of sex differences in substance use disorders is that these differences are due to ovarian hormones with estradiol enhancing vulnerability in females. However, most of this evidence is for psychostimulants and alcohol; evidence with opioids is sparse. OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to determine the impact of estradiol on vulnerability in females in a rat model of OUD...

INTRODUCTION: Most patients with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs) present with unresectable or metastatic disease. Increasing evidence shows that the immune cell infiltration patterns play a pivotal role in tumor progression in pNETs. Nonetheless, there has been no comprehensive analysis of the effect of immune infiltration patterns on metastasis. METHODS: The gene expression profiling dataset and clinical data were obtained from GEO database. ESTIMATE and ssGSEA were used to uncover the landscape of the tumor immune microenvironment...