Low H19 and abundant IGF-II expression may have a role in the development of adrenocortical carcinomas. In the mouse, the H19 promoter area has been found to be methylated when transcription of the H19 gene is silent and unmethylated when it is active. We used PCR-based methylation analysis and bisulfite genomic sequencing to study the cytosine methylation status of the H19 promoter region in 1...

• It has been demonstrated that a heart subjected to functional strain, imposed by increased outflow resistance, passes through a series of metabolic alterations, characterized by changes in energy production and myocardial protein synthesis. Under such circumstances an isometric type of hyperfunction is produced with the development of cardiac hypertrophy. During the first or "damage" stage of...

Adenylate cyclase responses to pituitary hormones including adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), biogenetic amines, prostaglandin E1 (PGE1), angiotensin II, and glucagon were evaluated in adrenocortical tumors and hyperplastic adrenal tissues, obtained from patients with Cushing's syndrome at surgery, and in normal adrenals. The adenylate cyclase of two normal adrenals was activated only by ACTH...

Evidence for the expression of the canonic androgen receptor (AR) in human adrenal cortex has not been provided so far. The aim of the present study was to demonstrate the expression of the AR gene in normal and neoplastic adrenocortical human tissues and in the human adrenocortical cancer cell line, NCI-H295, and then to evaluate the effect of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) on human adrenocortical ...

Endogenous Cushing syndrome (CS) is caused by excess adrenal glucocorticoid secretion that is adrenocorticotropin (ACTH)-dependent or independent; ACTH-independent adrenocortical causes of CS account for up to 20% of CS in adults, and 15% in children over age 7 years. In younger children, ACTH-independent CS may account for as many as half of the CS cases. In both adults and children, adrenocor...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to assess the metallothionein (MT), maintenance protein 2 (Mcm-2) and Ki-67 expressions in adrenocortical adenomas and carcinomas in comparison to normal tissue and evaluate the correlations between these markers of proliferation and between these markers and tumor diameter. MATERIALS AND METHODS The expression of MT, Mcm-2 and Ki-67 was assessed by immuno...

The goal of this study was to evaluate the clinical reliability of the 131I-6 -iodomethyl-norcholesterol (131I-NP-59) uptake semiquantitative evaluation method we propose for the characterization of adrenocortical masses in a selected population of patients with disease clinically classified as subclinical (SC) and preclinical (PC) Cushing’s syndrome (CS) according to Reincke’s definition. Meth...

OBJECTIVE Prefrontal and cerebellar abnormalities have been associated with higher cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. The current study aimed to show whether or not schizophrenic patients with fronto-cerebellar functional abnormalities show more anhedonia or ambivalence. METHODS Regional cerebral metabolic activity was measured using fluoro-D-glucose positron emission tomography and was com...

N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor activation in rat kidney reduces renal perfusion and ultrafiltration. Hypoperfusion-induced ischemia is the most frequent cause of functional insufficiency in the endotoxemic kidney. Here, we used non-hypotensive rat model of lipopolysaccharide-induced endotoxemia to examine whether NMDA receptor hyperfunction contributes to acute kidney injury. Lipopolysacc...

adrenocortical carcinoma (acc) is a rare tumor and usually a fatal disease which can develop at any age in either sex. differential diagnosis between malignant and benign adrenal mass is not easy which leads to significant clinical challenge for optimal treatment. here we report a 22-year-old woman diagnosed with primary hyper aldostronism initially but disease relapsed during six months and ma...