a kind of growth hormone secretagogue (ghs), ghrelin, was first isolated from the rat stomach and plays a major role in the activation of the growth hormone secretagogue receptor 1a (ghs-r1a) resulting the release of growth hormone (gh). the preproghrelin gene is placed on chromosome 3, at locus 3p25 –2 in humans and constitutes five exons and three introns. ghrelin is most plentifully expresse...

Ghrelin is a gastric hormone that acts on pituitary and hypothalamus to stimulate growth hormone release regulating adiposity and appetite. Its activity is thought to be dependent on acylation. Ghrelin is O-octanoylated at Ser3 (acylated ghrelin [AG]) by ghrelin O-acyltransferase (GOAT), a posttranslational modification required for mediating its action through growth hormone secretagogue recep...

Introduction: In spinal cord injury (SCI) investigation, the combination of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and perfusion imaging has the potential to be a useful tool in the detection of functional impairments, white matter tract disruption and deficient tissue blood supply, but also in the evaluation of functional recovery and tissue repair. Whereas multislice DTI is widely used for SCI models...

Despite being unable to activate the cognate ghrelin receptor (GHS-R), unacylated ghrelin (UAG) possesses a unique activity spectrum that includes promoting bone marrow adipogenesis. Since a receptor mediating this action has not been identified, we re-appraised the potential interaction of UAG with GHS-R in the regulation of bone marrow adiposity. Surprisingly, the adipogenic effects of intra-...

The Carney complex (CNC) is a dominantly inherited syndrome characterized by spotty skin pigmentation, endocrine overactivity and myxomas. Skin pigmentation anomalies include lentigines and blue naevi. The most common endocrine gland manifestations are acromegaly, thyroid and testicular tumors, and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-independent Cushing's syndrome due to primary pigmented nodula...

The human population in Greenland is characterized by migration events of Paleo- and Neo-Eskimos, as well as admixture with Europeans. In this study, the Y-chromosomal variation in male Greenlanders was investigated in detail by typing 73 Y-chromosomal single nucleotide polymorphisms (Y-SNPs) and 17 Y-chromosomal short tandem repeats (Y-STRs). Approximately 40% of the analyzed Greenlandic Y chr...

Over the last 35 years, researchers from the Laboratory of Biological Anthropology at the University of Kansas have been working with Mennonite communities to better understand evolutionary patterns of fission-fusion in relationship to their genetic history and population structure. In this study, short tandem repeat (STR) markers from the nonrecombining region of the Y chromosome (NRY) provide...

The development of amphetamine dependence largely depends on the effects of amphetamine in the brain reward systems. Ghrelin, an orexigenic peptide, activates the reward systems and is required for reward induced by alcohol, nicotine, cocaine and amphetamine in mice. Human genetic studies have shown that polymorphisms in the pre-proghrelin (GHRL) as well as GHS-R1A (GHSR) genes are associated w...

The liver is the most important link between the circadian system and metabolism. As a food-entrainable oscillator, the hepatic clock needs to be entrained by food-related signals. The objective of the present study was to investigate the possible role of ghrelin (an orexigenic peptide mainly synthesized in the gastrointestinal tract) as an endogenous synchronizer of the liver oscillator in tel...