Journal of Neuroendocrinology最新文献

The alterations of phenotypic traits (morphology, endocrine physiology, and behavior) in response to predictable environmental cues across life-history stages in seasonally breeding birds enable successful culmination of reproduction. The present study elucidated the plasticity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in a subtropical free-living finch, Amandava amandava amandava, and suggests the crucial role of the baseline corticosterone (CORT) to coordinate energetic readiness across life-history stages. Birds were captured monthly from an area (25.1337° N 82.5644° E) in Uttar Pradesh, India, from June 2014 to May 2015. Only male birds were included in this study corresponding to different life-history stages (6/life-history stage; 2/month): pre-breeding (June-August), breeding (September-November), post-breeding (December-February), and quiescent phases (March-May). The pituitary expression of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), adrenal interrenal cell morphometry, and plasma level of the CORT showed varied patterns across life-history stages. The density and immunointensity of the ACTH-immunoreactive corticotropes and the interrenal cell number increased along with the significant plasma CORT elevation during the breeding cycle (both pre-breeding and breeding phases). CORT might facilitate the energy demand for the display of sexual behavior (nest-building, courtship), testicular recrudescence, and foraging of food for offspring during the breeding cycle. On the contrary, plasma CORT decrease in the post-breeding and quiescent phases might enable the bird to molt avoiding the protein catabolic effect of the hormone. Given the complexity involved in the study of baseline CORT in free-living birds, more studies are needed to better understand the crucial role of the HPA axis in the modulation of life-history stages in this and other subtropical avian species.

The neurocognitive and psychiatric effects of Cushing's syndrome (CS) are well recognized and negatively impact quality of life. The aim of this systematic review is to compare neurocognitive disease, psychiatric symptoms, and structural brain changes in patients with Cushing's disease (CD)/CS and those with non-functioning pituitary adenoma (NFPA), both before and after surgical treatment, and in comparison to healthy controls. Possible predictors of persistent neurocognitive symptoms and reduced quality of life in patients with CS are highlighted. We reviewed the English literature published in Medline/Pubmed until 2021 to identify eligible studies. This systematic review was registered on Prospero and reported following the PRISMA statement guidelines. The initial literature search yielded 1772 articles, of which 1096 articles remained after removing duplicates. After excluding case reports, animal studies, narrative reviews, comparative reviews, and articles not in English, 86 papers underwent full-text review. Studies eligible for inclusion met the following criteria: (1) described patients with CD/CS, (2) reports of psychiatric symptoms, (3) written in English or with available English translation, and (4) published in a peer-reviewed journal. The full-text review process identified 40 eligible studies. The 40 studies included a total of 2603 participants with CD or CS, with 45.2% of the total participants having CD. The majority of studies were case-control studies and used validated questionnaires such as the Beck's Depression Index, Trail Making Test, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and Cushing Quality of Life for screening. Compared to NFPA controls, patients with CD who had greater baseline serum cortisol levels had worse cognitive function, even after surgical remission. This suggests a possible association between greater baseline cortisol levels in patients with CS and persistent cognitive impairment. A longer duration of uncontrolled CS was associated with worse cognitive function; however, there was no association found between the length of remission and memory. Overall brain volume was increased in patients in remission from CD compared to active disease. However, temporal and frontal lobe volumes did not recover to normal volumes. Patients with CS experience neurocognitive dysfunction, psychiatric disorders, and diminished quality of life, and symptoms may persist after curative surgery. We found several factors consistently associated with persistent cognitive and neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with CS including higher pre-operatively baseline cortisol production, longer duration of disease, frontal and temporal lobe atrophy, and the presence of cognitive and neuropsychiatric symptoms at baseline. Larger prospective studies are required to validate these findings.

Juvenile male hamsters exposed to chronic social stress eat more, gain weight, and have larger fat pads. The purpose of the present study was to address possible changes in food hoarding and orexin/hypocretin innervation in response to social stress. Male hamsters in early adolescence were exposed to a resident-intruder social stress paradigm or control condition daily for 2 weeks. Metabolism-related physiological measures and behaviors were tracked, and brains were immunocytochemically labeled for orexin-A. Our data confirm our previous observations on appetite, weight gain, and obesity, and showed a strong trend toward enhanced food hoarding as in prior studies. In addition, there were no statistically significant differences in orexin innervation in any brain area analyzed. However, unique correlation patterns were observed between orexin innervation and appetite or metabolic outcome. In particular, opposite correlations were observed between groups within the dorsal raphe nucleus, lateral parabrachial nucleus, and nucleus of the solitary tract. These opposite patterns of correlations suggest chronic social stress causes site-specific alterations in synaptic activity in relation with these behaviors.

Postoperative diabetes insipidus (DI) frequently complicates endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery (TSS) in pituitary adenoma (PA) patients, yet reliable predictive methods for DI risk remain lacking. This study aims to identify risk factors associated with DI following endoscopic transsphenoidal resection of PA and to develop a predictive nomogram for assessing postoperative DI risk. This study involved 600 PA patients underwent endoscopic TSS at Shandong Provincial Hospital from 2021 to 2023. Among these patients, 82 developed postoperative DI while 518 did not. The cohort was randomly divided into training (n = 360) and validation (n = 240) groups at 6:4 ratios by R software. Clinical parameters and radiographic features were evaluated using univariable and multivariable logistic regression to construct a predictive nomogram for post-endoscopic TSS DI risk. Model performance was assessed using ROC curves, calibration plots, and decision curve analysis. Subgroup analysis was used to evaluate the model's ability to discriminate between transient and permanent DI. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses on the training group identified several independent risk factors for post-endoscopic TSS DI, including maximum tumor diameter, Knosp grade, Esposito grade, recurrent PA, and pituitary stalk deviation angle. A nomogram was developed based on these factors, demonstrating robust predictive accuracy with ROC areas under curve of 0.840 for the training group and 0.815 for the validation group. Calibration plots indicated excellent agreement between predicted and observed probabilities of postoperative DI. DCA curves highlighted the nomogram's efficacy in guiding clinical decision-making. Subgroup analysis showed that the model was able to discriminate between transient and permanent DI, and the AUC was 0.652 (95% CI 0.525-0.794). This study presents a nomogram designed to predict postoperative DI risk in patients undergoing endoscopic TSS for PA. Internal and external validations underscored the model's high accuracy, calibration, and clinical utility. Simultaneously, the model can also assess the development risk of permanent DI. This predictive tool offers clinicians valuable support in identifying high-risk DI patients, optimizing postoperative care strategies, and tailoring treatment plans to improve patient outcomes.

Small intestine neuroendocrine tumours (SI-NETs) are often diagnosed late with a UK median of 3 years and high misdiagnosis rates. Previous studies, largely based on patient surveys, offer little data on improving diagnosis. In 2017, the South Wales NET service underwent a nationally commissioned, systematic transformation, aiming to improve diagnosis through the development of a gastroenterology and surgical referral network, and education of these specialities. This study aims to assess the impact of the transformation on SI-NET diagnosis times and misdiagnosis rates using accurate hospital data, along with the diagnostic routes and investigations used for SI-NETs. We retrospectively analysed the hospital records of 224 patients diagnosed with SI-NETs referred to the South Wales NET service (110 pre-transformation and 114 post-transformation). Following the service transformation, there was a significant reduction in diagnosis times from a median of 12.5-5.2 months (p < .05), at an earlier stage (cases with metastases reduced from 77% to 62%), and reduced misdiagnosis rates from 40% to 25%. Colonoscopy, used to investigate the presenting gastrointestinal symptoms in 42% of patients prior to diagnosis, identified an abnormality in only 28%, compared with 97% with computed tomography (CT) scans. A gastroenterology and surgical referral network across hospitals may improve diagnosis in SI-NETs, leading to earlier detection and reducing misdiagnosis rates. Further exploration of GP interactions is needed. Caution is needed following negative colonoscopy in patients with persistent lower gastrointestinal symptoms as this could lead to missed SI-NET diagnosis if further abdominal imaging is not undertaken.

Dyslipidemia is a potential unfavorable prognostic factor in neuroendocrine tumors (NETs); conversely, statins proved to have antiproliferative effects in NET cell lines and could be a helpful therapeutic strategy for these patients. The main objective of this observational cohort retrospective study is to explore the associations between dyslipidemia and NET progression and evaluate the potential influence of statins in this context. 393 patients with histologically confirmed gastroenteropancreatic or bronchopulmonary NETs from six Italian centres didicated to NET diagnosis and therapy were included. The cohort included 123 patients with dyslipidemia, 81 of which were taking statins. Clinicopathological data, including patient demographics, tumor characteristics, and treatment details as well as the prevalence, timing of dyslipidemia and hypolipemic therapy were collected. The main outcome measure used is progression-free survival (PFS). Among the 393 patients, 123 (31.3%) had dyslipidemia. Statins were used by 81 (65.8%) dyslipidemic patients, mostly atorvastatin. Median PFS was 87 months overall, 124 months in non-dyslipidemic patients, and 72 months in dyslipidemic patients (p = .268). Dyslipidemic patients on statins had a significantly better median PFS (108 months) than those not on statins (26 months; p = .024). Recurrence-free survival (RFS) was also evaluated, but no significant differences were found. In conclusion, while PFS was lower in dyslipidemic patients compared to non-dyslipidemic patients, the difference was not statistically significant. Statin therapy was associated with improved PFS among dyslipidemic patients, suggesting a potential antiproliferative effect of statins in NETs. These findings warrant further investigation to substantiate the role of statins in the management of NETs.

Poultry production is confronting real challenges, including a lofty projected high demand for animal proteins to feed the future, and the need to adapt to planetary boundaries (global warming) with limited natural resources (land, energy, water). Among the most challenging stressors to poultry production sustainability are heat stress (HS) and water uncertainty, that need extensive fundamental and applied research to identify effective strategies. In that regard, our group has recently developed a high-water-efficient broiler (meat-type) chicken line using water conversion ratio (WCR) as a phenotypic trait and defined the hypothalamic molecular mechanisms controlling drinking water under heat stress conditions. In response to the invitation from the Organizing Committee of the 13th International Symposium on Avian Endocrinology (ISAE 2024), the present review summarizes these data and closes the chapter by asking questions for future investigations. Data showed that HS exposure increased core body temperature (CBT) of both lines, with higher degree in HWE than in LWE counterparts. Despite this increase in CBT, HWE line drank less water but had superior performance with better feed conversion ratio (FCR) and WCR than LWE line. Molecular analyses showed that hypothalamic drinking-related neuropeptides (arginine vasopressin system, aquaporin system, renin, and angiotensin system) are affected in line- and/or environmental-dependent manner. Together, our research outcome indicates that the divergent selection for water efficiency could be an effective strategy to preserve water while maintaining optimal growth performance and could be applied to other poultry species and livestock.

Glucocorticoids (GCs) are secreted by the adrenal glands and increase in response to stressors (e.g., infection). The brain regulates local GC levels via GC synthesis, regeneration and/or metabolism. Little is known about local GC regulation within discrete brain regions at baseline or in response to stress. We treated male and female C57BL/6J mice at postnatal day 5 (PND5) or PND90 with lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 50 μg/kg bw i.p.) or vehicle and collected blood and brain after 4 h. We microdissected the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, hypothalamus and amygdala. We measured seven steroids, including corticosterone, via liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and measured transcripts for key steroidogenic enzymes (Cyp11b1, Hsd11b1, Hsd11b2) via qPCR. At both ages, LPS increased GC levels in blood and all brain regions; however, the increases were much greater at PND90 than at PND5. Interestingly, PND5 corticosterone levels were lower in prefrontal cortex than in blood, but higher in amygdala than in blood. These changes in corticosterone levels align with local changes in steroidogenic enzyme expression, demonstrating robust regional heterogeneity and a possible mechanism for the region-specific effects of early-life stress. In contrast, PND90 corticosterone levels were lower in all brain regions than in blood and similar among regions, and steroidogenic enzyme mRNA levels were generally not affected by LPS. Together, these data indicate that local GC levels within discrete brain regions are more heterogeneous at baseline and in response to LPS at PND5 than at PND90, as a result of increased local GC production and metabolism in the neonatal brain.