Chronic glucocorticoid treatment alters spontaneous pulsatile parathyroid hormone secretory dynamics in human subjects.

Objective: Spontaneous parathyroid hormone (PTH) secretory dynamics include tonic and pulsatile components. It is not known how glucocorticoids might alter these secretory dynamics.

Design: The aim of our study was to evaluate spontaneous fluctuations in serum PTH levels in six adult male patients (aged 31-64 years) receiving chronic (>6 months) therapy with glucocorticoids (daily dosage >7.

Leptin stimulates growth hormone secretion via a direct pituitary effect combined with a decreased somatostatin tone in a median eminence-pituitary perifusion study.

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of recombinant human leptin on growth hormone (GH) secretion in perifused anterior pituitary slices from adult pigs. Anterior pituitary slices from sows were perifused and treated with recombinant human leptin (10 nM) and GH-releasing hormone (GHRH; 1 nM). In some experiments, pituitary slices were coincubated with stalk median eminence (SME).

Acromegalic patients show the presence of hypertrophic remodeling of subcutaneous small resistance arteries.

Structural alterations of small resistance arteries in patients with essential hypertension (EH) are mostly characterized by inward eutrophic remodeling. However, we have observed the presence of hypertrophic remodeling in patients with renovascular hypertension, as well as in patients with noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, suggesting a relevant effect of humoral growth factors on vascular structure. Growth hormone may stimulate in vitro proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells.

Influence of type 2 diabetes on functional and structural properties of coronary artery bypass conduits.

Recent studies have reported a high incidence of postoperative unfavorable cardiac-related events in patients with diabetes who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Structural and functional characteristics of CABG conduits, which have been shown to play an important role in patient outcome after myocardial revascularization, have not been fully investigated in diabetic subjects. Therefore, we sought to determine the influence of adult-onset diabetes on vasoreactivity and morphological profile of venous and arterial grafts.