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Query: UMLS:C0028754 (obesity)
 124,988 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Obesity is likely to be a multifactorial disease with an important genetic component. Animal models of genetic and experimentally induced obesity suggest that glucocorticoid receptor (GR) activity plays a role in the aetiology and maintenance of the obese state. Glucocorticoid activity appears to be essential for the development of hyperinsulinaemia and subsequent fat deposition. In humans, glucocorticoid excess is associated with central fat distribution. We have therefore investigated the restriction fragment length polymorphisms of the human GR gene locus (GRL) and have sought associations of specific alleles with anthropometric measurements and indices of insulin secretion and resistance in obesity. Fifty-six extremely obese, unrelated, nondiabetic premenopausal British Caucasian females and 43 age-matched, normal weight controls were studied. The obese subjects were characterized by fat distribution (waist to hip ratio), insulin secretion and insulin resistance (fasting insulin (FI)), an index of insulin resistance (HOMA), stimulated insulin secretion during an oral glucose tolerance test and insulin-mediated glucose disposal, steady-state plasma glucose). A Bc1I polymorphism (fragments of 4.5 and 2.3 kb) demonstrated significant association with indices of glucose metabolism in obesity; those subjects homozygous for the 4.5 kb fragment had elevated FI (Pc = 0.012) and HOMA (Pc = 0.012) values. The genotypic and allelic frequencies of the GRL Bc1I polymorphism were otherwise similar in obese and normal weight subjects. We postulate that the GRL Bc1I polymorphism may directly affect GR gene expression, or be in linkage disequilibrium with a possible mutation within one of three exons of the GR gene, and thereby modulate GR transcriptional activity on target genes involved in glucose and insulin homeostasis.
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PMID:An association between a Bc1I restriction fragment length polymorphism of the glucocorticoid receptor locus and hyperinsulinaemia in obese women. 136 60

The obese Zucker rat (fa/fa) is an animal model for genetic obesity characterized by hyperphagia, hyperinsulinemia, and severe insulin resistance in peripheral tissues. Adrenal steroids seem to play an important role in the onset of fatty syndrome in these animals. There is strong evidence of abnormal regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in obese Zucker rats. Considering the physiological function of arginine vasopressin (AVP) as an adrenocorticotropic hormone secretagogue, the present study was carried out to investigate the role of glucocorticoids in the control of hypothalamic AVP systems in lean and obese Zucker rats. In the first experiment, mifepristone (RU 38486), a glucocorticoid receptor antagonist, was administered for 4 days (10 mg/kg orally twice daily), and the expression of AVP mRNA in hypothalamic paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei was measured using in situ hybridization, and the concentrations of AVP in the pituitary gland and in the median eminence were quantified. Plasma corticosterone levels were also analyzed. Mifepristone treatment resulted in a threefold increase in plasma corticosterone levels in lean Zucker rats, but it did not change corticosterone secretion in obese animals. Mifepristone treatment decreased AVP mRNA levels in lean animals in the supraoptic nuclei, while in obese animals the AVP mRNA content was increased in the paraventricular nuclei. Mifepristone treatment significantly increased the concentration of AVP in the median eminence in lean rats and decreased it in obese animals. Mifepristone treatment did not change concentrations of AVP in the pituitary gland. In the second experiment, mifepristone was given for 4 days (10 mg/kg orally twice daily), and its effects on 24-hour food intake and plasma AVP concentrations were measured.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Differential hypothalamic arginine vasopressin response to glucocorticoid receptor antagonism in lean and obese Zucker rats. 140 82

The effect of mifepristone (RU 486), a blocker of type II glucocorticoid receptors on the development of obesity that follows the feeding of a high-fat (HF) diet to Osborne-Mendel (OM) rats, has been investigated. OM rats fed a HF diet gained more weight and had larger retroperitoneal and parametrial fat pads than OM rats fed a high-carbohydrate low-fat (LF) diet. RU 486 (30 mg.kg-1.day-1) for 14 days completely reversed the body weight gain and the increase in fat pad size of OM rats fed a HF diet. RU 486 had no effect on body weight of OM rats fed a LF diet, but did reduce fat pad weights. The data suggest that type II glucocorticoid receptor activity modulates body fat deposition and is essential for the development of obesity, although a minor role for progestin receptor activity cannot be ruled out.
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PMID:Mifepristone (RU 486), a blocker of type II glucocorticoid and progestin receptors, reverses a dietary form of obesity. 162 65

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is an important hypothalamic regulator of feeding behavior. In this study we have investigated the regulation of the expression of preproNPY mRNA in male obese and lean Zucker rats by in situ hybridization. These animals represent a model of genetic obesity with hyperphagia, hyperinsulinemia and altered endocrine functions. Obese Zucker rats, treated for 12 days with 0.9% saline, had about 210% higher level of basal preproNPY mRNA expression in the arcuate nucleus when compared to their lean littermate controls. Repeated administrations of 8-hydroxy-dipropylaminotetralin (8-OH-DPAT), a serotonergic 5-HT1A agonist, or mifepristone, a glucocorticoid receptor antagonist, did not modify the basal expression of preproNPY mRNA in the Zucker phenotypes. The 8-OH-DPAT treatment significantly reduced hyperinsulinemia in obese Zucker rats without changing plasma glucose levels. The mifepristone treatment significantly increased plasma corticosterone levels in lean animals, but not in obese animals. The present study demonstrates enhanced expression of preproNPY mRNA in the arcuate nucleus in obese Zucker rats suggesting an involvement of NPY in the pathophysiology of the hyperphagic syndrome and genetically determined obesity in Zucker rats. Neither the antagonism of glucocorticoid receptors by mifepristone, nor repeated treatment with 8-OH-DPAT resulting in reduced insulin levels in obese Zucker rats, modified the basal expression of preproNPY mRNA in the arcuate nucleus.
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PMID:Effects of repeated administration of mifepristone and 8-OH-DPAT on expression of preproneuropeptide Y mRNA in the arcuate nucleus of obese Zucker rats. 165 93

Adrenalectomy prevents development of obesity in genetically obese (ob/ob) mice. Replacement studies have shown that these mice exhibit hypersensitivity to corticosterone. This study was conducted to determine if this increased sensitivity was associated with alterations in corticoid receptor number or binding affinity. Cytosolic glucocorticoid receptor numbers were lower by 26% in liver, 23% in brain, and 26% in brown adipose tissue of 8-wk-old male ob/ob mice when compared with lean mice. Cytosolic glucocorticoid receptor numbers were similar in liver and brain of 4-wk-old lean and ob/ob mice is likely secondary to elevated plasma corticosterone concentrations in these older mice. Adrenalectomy increased cytosolic glucocorticoid receptor numbers in liver and brain of 8-wk-old ob/ob mice to values comparable to those in lean mice. Injection of dexamethasone (0.5 or 5 micrograms/g body wt) equally lowered cytosolic glucocorticoid receptor numbers in liver and brain of adrenalectomized ob/ob and lean mice. Brain mineralocorticoid receptor numbers and response to dexamethasone were similar in ob/ob and lean mice. These results suggest that the site responsible for increased sensitivity of ob/ob mice to corticosterone is postreceptor binding.
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PMID:Glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptor-binding characteristics in obese (ob/ob) mice. 165 71

Adipose tissue distribution in man is dependent on genetic and environmental factors. The total and regional masses of adipose tissue are dependent on the number of adipocytes as well as their degree of filling with depot fat. Currently available evidence does not suggest a specific regional regulation of fat cell multiplication in subcutaneous depots, which instead seems to occur at a certain critical degree of filling of available adipocytes. The control of the rate of filling of adipocytes then seems to be the main factor determining the local, regional mass of adipose tissue. This in turn is regulated by the balance between the lipid accumulating and mobilization processes. The steroid hormones exert major permissive effects on these processes. It seems likely that the resulting effect of the rate of secretion of various steroid hormones, and the local density of their specific receptors, decide the regional distribution of body fat. Physiological and clinical situations with defined differences in these regulatory factors would then be expected to have characteristically different adipose tissue distribution. Sex differences include a larger subcutaneous adipose tissue in women than men, explainable at least partly by a depot in the gluteal-femoral region in women, which is essentially absent in non-obese men. Men on the other hand seem to have a larger proportion of their adipose tissue organ localized intra-abdominally. In addition, the gluteal-femoral fat cells are specifically enlarged in women, and have a higher lipoprotein lipase activity. While the larger adipose tissue in non-obese women may well be genetically linked, the specific characteristics of the gluteal-femoral adipocytes are most likely regulated by female sex steroid hormones. Another apparent sex difference is the ability of women to protect visceral depots from fat accumulation up to a certain degree of obesity, while men deposit excess fat in this region in parallel with other depots. This might, at least partly, simply be explainable by the smaller 'available space' in male than female adipose tissue. It should be emphasized that the effects of sex steroid hormones on the regulation of adipocyte metabolism occur only in concert with cortisol, which is always present. Cortisol itself expresses lipoprotein lipase activity as well as beta-adrenergic receptors (BARs), and probably has additional effects, not yet revealed. The net effect seems, however, to be lipid accumulation as seen in the apparently glucocorticoid receptor (GR) dense visceral adipose tissue in conditions of glucocorticoid excess, such as Cushing's syndrome. The effects of the sex steroid hormones should be regarded against this background.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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PMID:Adipose tissue distribution and function. 179 41

This paper examines the treatment of obesity, using a feedback model of nutrient regulation. A feedback model contains afferent signals and a central controller that transduces afferent information into efferent signals that modulate the controlled system. Using this model and the receptor hypothesis for drug action, a variety of current and potential therapeutic approaches are discussed. Among the more promising approaches would be cholecystokinin agonists, small molecules that mimic ketoacids, agonists to corticotropin-releasing hormone, beta-3 agonists, antagonists to opioid peptides, antagonists to neuropeptide Y, glucocorticoid receptor antagonists, and growth hormone agonists. Since a number of mechanisms can influence body fat and nutrient partitioning, it is likely that optimal therapy will involve use of more than one pharmacologic agent.
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PMID:Treatment for obesity: a nutrient balance/nutrient partition approach. 201 19

Obese Zucker rats appear to lack a circadian rhythm of serum corticosterone and maintain relatively high concentrations throughout the 24-h day. The binding characteristics of glucocorticoid receptors in lean and obese Zucker rats were examined in three tissues suggested to be involved in the feedback inhibition of corticosterone: the anterior pituitary, hypothalamus and hippocampus. Hepatic glucocorticoid receptors were also examined to determine if receptor alterations exist in a peripheral tissue. The dissociation constant (Kd) of glucocorticoid receptors in the anterior pituitary of obese rats was 50% greater than the Kd of receptors derived from lean rats. This suggests a decrease in the affinity of these receptors and could indicate a reduced feedback inhibition of corticosterone at the anterior pituitary. Hepatic glucocorticoid receptors of obese rats also showed an increase (150%) in the Kd of binding and a reduction (40%) in the number of receptors. No difference was observed in the Kd or maximal binding of receptors from the hypothalamus or hippocampus of lean and obese rats. It appears that glucocorticoid receptor alterations exist in obese Zucker rats and that these alterations may affect the drive of the pituitary-adrenal axis and possibly the expression of obesity.
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PMID:Alterations in the binding characteristics of glucocorticoid receptors from obese Zucker rats. 221 85

Traditionally, the glucocorticoids have been viewed as catabolic hormones. However, with the present knowledge about how the glucocorticoid receptor protein functions in the stimulation of mRNA synthesis, a new view must be accepted: These steroids also have an anabolic function. They are anabolic because they stimulate the de novo synthesis of enzymes of anabolic pathways. In the liver, stimulation of lipogenic enzymes has been shown. These findings suggest that glucocorticoids can increase feed efficiency and thereby play a role in the etiology of obesity.
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PMID:Role of glucocorticoids in the regulation of lipogenesis. 266 32

Although plasma corticosteroid concentrations can be measured accurately, the biological effect on the target tissue is uncertain. The availability of an accurate measure of corticosteroid sensitivity would potentially clarify the putative roles of endogenous glucocorticoids in illnesses such as inflammatory disease and obesity and allow evaluation of an additional regulatory level of glucocorticoid action. To measure corticosteroid sensitivity, we developed an assay based on the inhibition by dexamethasone (Dex) of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced Interleukin-6 (IL-6) production and release in whole unseparated blood in vitro. LPS induced a dose-dependent increase in IL-6 concentrations up to 34 +/- 6.6 ng/mL, reaching plateau levels after 8 h, whereas Dex dose dependently inhibited LPS-induced IL-6 production. Involvement of the glucocorticoid receptor in this response was supported by abrogation of Dex (10(-7) mol/L) inhibition of IL-6 production by the glucocorticoid receptor antagonist RU 38486. To determine whether corticosteroid sensitivity is a dynamic phenomenon, we subjected healthy males to a graded quantifiable exercise associated with increases in plasma ACTH and cortisol. Before exercise, 3 x 10(-8) mol/L Dex inhibited LPS-induced IL-6 production in vitro; after exercise, 3 x 10(-8) and 10(-7) mol/L Dex were unable to inhibit IL-6 production. We conclude that Dex suppression of LPS-induced IL-6 production is an effective means of determining corticosteroid sensitivity, and that corticosteroid sensitivity in human subjects is a dynamic, rather than a static, phenomenon.
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PMID:Changes in corticosteroid sensitivity of peripheral blood lymphocytes after strenuous exercise in humans. 855 Jul 57


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