This study has examined the expression of two new facets of the growth hormone axis, the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHS-R) and its recently identified putative natural ligand ghrelin, in prostate cancer cells. GHS-R 1a and 1b isoforms and ghrelin mRNA expression were detected by RT-PCR in the ALVA-41, LNCaP, DU145 and PC3 prostate cancer cell lines. A normal prostate cDNA library exp...

The ghrelin system comprises acylated ghrelin (AG), unacylated ghrelin (UAG) and obestatin, besides the receptor for AG, the growth hormone (GH) secretagogue receptor type 1a (GHS-R1a), and the enzyme-promoting ghrelin acylation, ghrelin O-acyltransferase (GOAT). The ghrelin peptides exert a variety of biological actions, including regulation of energy homeostasis and glucose metabolism, as wel...

The central ghrelin signaling system engages key pathways of importance for feeding control, recently shown to include those engaged in anxiety-like behavior in rodents. Here we sought to determine whether ghrelin impacts on the central serotonin system, which has an important role in anxiety. We focused on two brain areas, the amygdala (of importance for the mediation of fear and anxiety) and ...

The aim of this review is to summarize the existing data collected in high-resolution phylogenetic studies of mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosome variation in mainland and insular Croatian populations. Mitochondrial DNA polymorphisms were explored in 721 individuals by sequencing mtDNA HVS-1 region and screening a selection of 24 restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs), diagnostic for ...

The aim of this work was evaluation of expression of ghrelin and GHS-R1a receptor in somatotrops and in neuronal cells of brain tissue in the process of human fetal ontogenesis. Relations were also looked for between GHRH and SS in the pituitary and in the CNS neurones of the studied fetuses. The study was based on 8 pituitaries and 8 brains from fetuses in different periods of intrauterine lif...

BACKGROUND The central Indian state Madhya Pradesh is often called as 'heart of India' and has always been an important region functioning as a trinexus belt for three major language families (Indo-European, Dravidian and Austroasiatic). There are less detailed genetic studies on the populations inhabited in this region. Therefore, this study is an attempt for extensive characterization of gene...

Ghrelin is known to promote neuronal defense and survival against ischemic injury by inhibiting apoptotic processes. In the present study, we investigated the role of prostate apoptosis response-4 (Par-4), a proapoptotic gene the expression of which is increased after ischemic injury, in ghrelin-mediated neuroprotection during middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Both ghrelin and des-acyl g...

mu-Conotoxins (mu-CTXs) specifically inhibit Na(+) flux by occluding the pore of voltage-gated Na(+) channels. Although the three-dimensional structures of mu-CTXs are well defined, the molecular configuration of the channel receptor is much less certain; even the fundamental question of whether the four homologous Na(+) channel domains are arranged in a clockwise or counter-clockwise configura...

Recent studies demonstrate widespread expression of ghrelin among tissues and have uncovered its pleiotropic nature. We have examined gene expression of ghrelin and its two receptor splice variants, growth hormone secretagogue receptors (GHS-R) 1a and 1b, in human bone biopsies and in the human pre-osteoblastic SV-HFO cell line during differentiation. Additionally, we examined proliferative eff...

Based on clinical and animal studies, this review suggests a tri-phasic effect of second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) on circulating ghrelin levels: an initial increase exerted by the acute effect of SGAs; followed by a secondary decrease possibly due to the negative feedback from the SGA-induced body weight gain or hyperphagia; and a final re-increase to reach the new equilibrium. Moreover...