Hypoxia increases adipogenesis and affects adipocytokine production in orbital fibroblasts-a possible explanation of the link between smoking and Graves' ophthalmopathy.

Aim: To assess the effects of hypoxia on human orbital fibroblasts (OF) on adipogenesis and adipocytokine production.

Methods: Human OF were derived from tissues obtained from patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO) and from patients without known thyroid diseases undergoing blepharoplasty. The OF were cultured separately under normoxic and hypoxic conditions.

Ethnic differences in the clinical presentation of Graves' ophthalmopathy.

Ethnic differences in a number of eye conditions have been described. The literature on ethnic differences in Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO) is limited. There is some evidence to suggest Asian patients with GO may manifest milder phenotypic features of GO, with less proptosis and evidence of extraocular muscle involvement and restriction.

Effects of mutations involving cysteine residues distal to the S281HCC motif at the C-terminus on the functional characteristics of a truncated ectodomain-only thyrotropin receptor anchored on glycosylphosphatidyl-inositol.

Background: Cysteine (Cys) residues pair to form disulfide bonds that are important in maintaining structure and function of the thyrotropin receptor (TSHR). There are 11 Cys residues in the ectodomain (ECD). Cys 41 at the N-terminus and Cys 283 at the SHCC motif have been identified as important for ligand binding.

Cysteine 390 mutation of the TSH receptor modulates its ectodomain as an inverse agonist on the serpentine domain with decrease in basal constitutive activity.

Mutations of individual cysteine residues at codon 301, 390, 398 and 408 of the thyrotropin receptor (TSHr) to serine resulted in cell surface expression of only C301S and C390S mutants. C390S mutation was a silencing mutation with decreased basal constitutive activity. Although the C301S and C390S mutants did not show any significant TSH binding, they generated cyclic AMP upon TSH stimulation.

Severe Graves' ophthalmopathy after retrobulbar anesthesia for cataract extraction in a patient with mild stable thyroid eye disease.

It has been hypothesized that the distinct anatomic localization of the Graves' triad may be partially explained by pressure and trauma. While there are reports of local trauma clearly contributing to the pathogenesis of pretibial myxedema, direct evidence for a similar mechanism in Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO) has been lacking. We describe a 65-year-old male patient with stable mild Graves' ophthalmopathy of 24 years' duration in whom a retrobulbar block was administered prior to cataract removal.