Autocrine production of reproductive axis neuropeptides affects proliferation of canine osteosarcoma in vitro.

Background: Osteosarcoma strikes hundreds of people each year, of both advanced and younger ages, and is often terminal. Like many tumor types, these bone tumors will frequently undergo a neuroendocrine transition, utilizing autocrine and/or paracrine hormones as growth factors and/or promoters of angiogenesis to facilitate progression and metastasis. While many of these factors and their actions on tumor growth are characterized, some tumor-derived neuropeptides remain unexplored.

Novel zebrafish behavioral assay to identify modifiers of the rapid, nongenomic stress response.

When vertebrates face acute stressors, their bodies rapidly undergo a repertoire of physiological and behavioral adaptations, which is termed the stress response. Rapid changes in heart rate and blood glucose levels occur via the interaction of glucocorticoids and their cognate receptors following hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activation. These physiological changes are observed within minutes of encountering a stressor and the rapid time domain rules out genomic responses that require gene expression changes.

Paternally Inherited DLK1 Deletion Associated With Familial Central Precocious Puberty.

Context: Central precocious puberty (CPP) results from premature activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. Few genetic causes of CPP have been identified, with the most common being mutations in the paternally expressed imprinted gene MKRN3.

Objective: To identify the genetic etiology of CPP in a large multigenerational family.

Evaluation of Immortalized AVPV- and Arcuate-Specific Neuronal Kisspeptin Cell Lines to Elucidate Potential Mechanisms of Estrogen Responsiveness and Temporal Gene Expression in Females.

In females, ovarian estradiol modulates kisspeptin (Kiss-1) synthesis to act as an obligatory regulator of downstream gonadotropin release in vivo, via stimulation of GnRH neurons. Changes in the ovarian condition are relayed to the neuroendocrine hypothalamus via two sexually dimorphic Kiss-1 populations, located in the anteroventral periventricular (AVPV) and arcuate nuclei, conveying estradiol-positive and -negative feedback, respectively. To elucidate how differential responsiveness to estradiol is mediated in these populations, we generated two kisspeptin-secreting cell lines from an adult kiss1-green fluorescent protein (GFP) female mouse.