A 50 years old woman with history of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor diagnosed 2 years ago, which has not been surgically removed,was referred to our department for a 99mTc-Octreotate in order to evaluate the somatostatin receptor status. She was treated with regular sandostatin injections and chemotherapy. Her CT scan which was previously performed confirmed lung, adrenal and hepati...

Hormones produced by the adrenal glands and adipose tissues have important roles in normal physiology and are altered in many disease states. Obesity is associated with changes in adrenal function, including increase in adrenal medullary catecholamine output, alterations of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, elevations in circulating aldosterone together with changes in adipose tiss...

the brain. Several studies have indicated that the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis changes the serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) function in the brain. The 5-HT receptor subtypes, particularly 5-HT2A and 5-HT1A receptors, have been postulated to play an important role in the pathogenesis of depression. Some clinical studies have demonstrated increases in the number of ...

BACKGROUND & AIMS Proper adrenal glucocorticoid secretion is crucial in the course of inflammatory diseases. However, the function and structure of the adrenal glands have not been examined in inflammatory bowel diseases. METHODS After induction of trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS) colitis in SJL/J mice, plasma hormone and cytokine levels were measured, adrenal structure was analyzed by im...

Orexins are neuropeptides that play important roles in sleep-wake regulation and food intake the central nervous system, but their receptors also expressed peripheral tissues, including endocrine system. In present study, we investigated functions of orexin adrenal steroidogenesis using human adrenocortical H295R cells by focusing on its interaction with bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) induc...

Abnormal responsiveness of adrenocortical cells to gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP) in food-dependent Cushing's syndrome suggested that adrenal expression of ectopic, overexpressed, or mutated GIP receptor (GIPR) underlies this syndrome. The expression of GIPR was studied by RT-PCR in human adrenal tissues from two patients with GIP-dependent Cushing's syndrome (adenoma, bilateral hyperplas...

A variety of transcription factors including Wilms tumor gene (Wt-1), steroidogenic factor 1 (Sf-1), dosage-sensitive sex reversal, adrenal hypoplasia congenita on the X-chromosome, Gene 1 (Dax-1), and pre-B-cell transcription factor 1 (Pbx1) have been defined as necessary for regular adrenocortical development. However, the role of Pbx1 for adrenal growth and function in the adult organism tog...

Aberrant gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP) receptor expression in bilaterally hyperplastic adrenals or unilateral adrenal adenomas is a rare form of adrenal hyperfunction. So far, only few cases have been described. In all these cases, cortisol was the predominant steroid released in a food-dependent manner, leading to the development of non-ACTH-dependent Cushing's syndrome. In the present ...

Delivery of cholesterol to inner mitochondrial membranes is rate-limiting for steroidogenesis in the zona fasciculata of adrenal cortex. A protein that stimulates this process was isolated to homogeneity from bovine adrenal tissue. This protein's primary structure has been determined in its entirety by a combination of automated Edman microsequencing, fast-atom bombardment mass spectrometry (FA...

We examined the effects of sarafotoxin 6c (S6c), an endothelin-B (ET(B)) receptor agonist, on adrenal catecholamine secretion in response to cholinergic stimuli in pentobarbital sodium-anesthetized dogs. Drugs were administered intra-arterially into the adrenal gland through the phrenicoabdominal artery. Infusion of S6c attenuated increases in adrenal catecholamine output induced by splanchnic ...