Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0028754 (obesity)
 124,988 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Human growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) was originally extracted from two pancreatic tumours in patients with acromegaly, and is now known to consist of a 44 residue amidated peptide or its C-terminal-shortened derivatives. The sequence of rat GHRH has also been determined; this 43 residue peptide shows approximately 70% homology with human GHRH, and is located mainly in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus. Pulsatile GH release in the rat is principally a consequence of the pulsatile release of hypothalamic GHRH, although this appears to be associated with a transient suppression of somatostatin release. Exogenous GHRH specifically increases circulating GH in many species, and in the long term may increase growth. In normal man, several analogues of GHRH have been shown to be safe, sensitive and specific stimuli to GH release; although there may be a variable prolactin response, this is usually of small magnitude. Continuous infusion of GHRH leads to a decrement in responsiveness, due at least in part to changes in hypothalamic somatostatin. The GH response to GHRH is also modulated by obesity, blood sugar, free fatty acids, and GH itself. Many children with 'GH deficiency' (idiopathic, radiation-induced, or secondary to hypothalamopituitary tumours) respond to intravenous GHRH with an acute rise in serum GH. Early studies also indicate that long-term therapy with subcutaneous GHRH may increase growth velocity in some of these children. It is concluded that analogues of GHRH are useful in the investigation of the hypothalamopituitary axis, and may be important in the therapy of short stature.
 ...
PMID:Growth hormone releasing hormone. 242 96

Growth hormone levels following an intravenous bolus injection of 1 micrograms/kg body weight growth hormone releasing hormone were measured in 21 non-obese and 26 obese patients with Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus and in 13 control subjects. Growth hormone responses in non-obese Type 2 diabetic patients were not statistically different from control subjects. However, obese Type 2 diabetic patients had significantly decreased growth hormone responses to growth hormone releasing hormone when compared with non-obese Type 2 diabetic patients (p less than 0.02). In 9 Type 2 diabetic patients growth hormone releasing hormone tests were performed both during hyperglycaemia and after metabolic improvement by insulin treatment. Growth hormone responses before and after insulin treatment were not statistically different. Our data demonstrate that growth hormone responses to growth hormone releasing hormone in non-obese Type 2 diabetic patients do not differ significantly from control subjects; obesity blunts growth hormone responses to growth hormone releasing hormone in Type 2 diabetes mellitus; and growth hormone responses following growth hormone releasing hormone administration in Type 2 diabetes mellitus are not influenced by the state of metabolic control.
 ...
PMID:Effect of growth hormone releasing hormone on growth hormone secretion in type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus. 310 23

We report the case of a 17-year-old girl presenting short stature (height 149 cm, below the 3rd percentile), obesity (weight 83.5 kg, body mass index 37 kg/m2) and secondary amenorrhea, in whom endocrinological evaluation disclosed an absolute lack of GH responsiveness to both suprapituitary challenges and repetitive growth hormone releasing hormone administration together with failure of plasma gonadotropins and PRL, low under basal conditions, to rise in response to GnRH and insulin-hypoglycemia, respectively. In contrast, basal and stimulated TSH and ACTH secretions were normal. Radiological examination of the skull revealed virtual absence of the pituitary fossa due to the lack of sellar cavum and dorsum, while magnetic resonance was unable to detect any pituitary tissue. A mucosal cleft of the nasopharynx, compatible with a pharyngeal hypophysis, was disclosed at endoscopy. This is an unusual case of developmental abnormality including lack of formation of the sella turcica and incomplete caudal migration of the embryonal anterior pituitary, resulting in ectopically located--likely pharyngeal--pituitary tissue. In view of the occurrence of spontaneous menarche and of a growth impairment less severe than one would expect considering the degree of GH deficiency, it is conceivable that the ectopic pituitary tissue has lost, in time, some of its secretory ability.
 ...
PMID:Abnormal development of the sella turcica and lack of pituitary visualization in a patient with partial hypopituitarism. 759 30

Food Intake is reciprocally related to the activity of sympathetic nerves to brown adipose tissue. This reciprocal or feedback relation is shown for hypothalamic lesions, drugs, and many peptides. These peptides also modulate intake of specific nutrients. Galanin and opioids increase fat intake, whereas enterostatin decreases fat intake. NPY increases carbohydrate intake and growth hormone releasing hormone decreases protein intake. The activity of the sympathetic nervous system is low in obesity and adrenalectomy reverses this decrease in sympathetic activity and reverses or stops the progression of obesity. One mechanism for this effect of adrenal steroids is through a transacting substance which is involved in steroid actions and the production of obesity.
 ...
PMID:Food intake, sympathetic activity, and adrenal steroids. 822 Nov 49

The prevalence of obesity is increasing in the developed as well as underdeveloped countries. Obesity in women is associated with reproductive disorders. The levels of estrone and androgens are higher in obese women along with a reduction in the levels of sex hormone binding globulin ( SHBG ). The pituitary secretion of hormones is altered either due to a deficient peripheral feedback regulation or a concomitant central defect in the obese. Luteinizing hormone ( LH ) level may increase in some of the obese subjects. The secretion of LH in response to luteinizing hormone releasing hormone ( LHRH or GnRH ), clonidine and naloxone may be altered in obese women. The levels of circulating prolactin may fall along with a delay in the nocturnal surge of the hormone. The secretion of prolactin in response to thyrotropin releasing hormone ( TRH ), insulin-induced hypoglycemia, arginine and chlorpromazine is altered. Similarly growth hormone secretion in response to growth hormone releasing hormone ( GHRH ), clonidine, naloxone and arginine is also altered in obesity. The literature suggests an alteration in the autonomic nervous system activity and the metabolism of carbohydrates and fats in the obese. Steroid hormones could affect the distribution of fat in the various regions of the body, and the distribution of body fat is linked with the severity of hyperandrogenism and metabolic disorders in obese subjects. However, it is heartening to note that many of the endocrinological and reproductive disorders are reversible with weight reduction in the obese subjects.
 ...
PMID:Reproductive functions in obese women. 837 28

The modern era of growth hormone research began in 1981 with the characterization and synthesis of the primary stimulator of GH synthesis and secretion, growth hormone releasing hormone. Discovery of this peptide and studies in human adults and children resulted in unraveling the complex nature of the regulation of GH secretion. Discovery of regulatory mechanisms has permitted a greater understanding of normal and abnormal growth hormone physiology. The use of growth hormone therapeutically as replacement in GH deficient adults is in its medical infancy, but preliminary studies indicate a beneficial effect on body composition, serum lipid concentrations, bone mineral density, muscle strength, and exercise endurance. These studies over the past decade resulted in Food and Drug Administration approval of GH for replacement in adults with hypothalamic or pituitary disease. It remains to be determined whether or not chronic GH replacement will have beneficial effects on morbidity and mortality. The use of growth hormone in other areas such as aging, catabolic illness, obesity, diabetes, and muscular disorders is under active investigation and risks and benefits remain to be determined.
 ...
PMID:The Gordon Wilson Lecture. Growth hormone replacement in adults and other uses. 960 Nov 30

Growth hormone (GH) secretion, either spontaneous or evoked by provocative stimuli, is markedly blunted in obesity. In fact obese patients display, compared to normal weight subjects, a reduced half-life, frequency of secretory episodes and daily production rate of the hormone. Furthermore, in these patients GH secretion is impaired in response to all traditional pharmacological stimuli acting at the hypothalamus (insulin-induced hypoglycaemia, arginine, galanin, L-dopa, clonidine, acute glucocorticoid administration) and to direct somatotrope stimulation by exogenous growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH). Compounds thought to inhibit hypothalamic somatostatin (SRIH) release (pyridostigmine, arginine, galanin, atenolol) consistently improve, though do not normalize, the somatotropin response to GHRH in obesity. The synthetic growth hormone releasing peptides (GHRPs) GHRP-6 and hexarelin elicit in obese patients GH responses greater than those evoked by GHRH, but still lower than those observed in lean subjects. The combined administration of GHRH and GHRP-6 represents the most powerful GH releasing stimulus known in obesity, but once again it is less effective in these patients than in lean subjects. As for the peripheral limb of the GH-insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) axis, high free IGF-I, low IGF-binding proteins 1 (IGFBP-1) and 2 (IGFBP-2), normal or high IGFBP-3 and increased GH binding protein (GHBP) circulating levels have been described in obesity. Recent evidence suggests that leptin, the product of adipocyte specific ob gene, exerts a stimulating effect on GH release in rodents; should the same hold true in man, the coexistence of high leptin and low GH serum levels in human obesity would fit in well with the concept of a leptin resistance in this condition. Concerning the influence of metabolic and nutritional factors, an impaired somatotropin response to hypoglycaemia and a failure of glucose load to inhibit spontaneous and stimulated GH release are well documented in obese patients; furthermore, drugs able to block lipolysis and thus to lower serum free fatty acids (NEFA) significantly improve somatotropin secretion in obesity. Caloric restriction and weight loss are followed by the restoration of a normal spontaneous and stimulated GH release. On the whole, hypothalamic, pituitary and peripheral factors appear to be involved in the GH hyposecretion of obesity. A SRIH hypertone, a GHRH deficiency or a functional failure of the somatotrope have been proposed as contributing factors. A lack of the putative endogenous ligand for GHRP receptors is another challenging hypothesis. On the peripheral side, the elevated plasma levels of NEFA and free IGF-I may play a major role. Whatever the cause, the defect of GH secretion in obesity appears to be of secondary, probably adaptive, nature since it is completely reversed by the normalization of body weight. In spite of this, treatment with biosynthetic GH has been shown to improve the body composition and the metabolic efficacy of lean body mass in obese patients undergoing therapeutic severe caloric restriction. GH and conceivably GHRPs might therefore have a place in the therapy of obesity.
 ...
PMID:Growth hormone in obesity. 1019 71

Obese subjects exhibit a marked decrease in plasma growth hormone (GH) levels. However, the mechanisms by which increased adiposity leads to an impairment of GH secretion are poorly understood. Recent evidence suggests that the adipose tissue can markedly influence GH secretion via two different signals, namely free fatty acids (FFA) and leptin. FFA appear to inhibit GH secretion mainly by acting directly at pituitary level. Interestingly, reduction in circulating FFA levels in obese subjects led to a marked increase in GH responses to different GH secretagogues. This indicates that FFA exert a tonic inhibitory effect that contributes to blunted GH secretion in obese subjects. Recent data have shown that leptin is a metabolic signal that regulates GH secretion, since the administration of leptin antiserum to adult rats led to a marked decrease in spontaneous GH secretion. However, leptin prevents,the inhibitory effect exerted by fasting on plasma GH levels. The effect of leptin in adult rats appears to be exerted at hypothalamic level by regulating growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH), somatostatin and neuropeptide Y (NPY)-producing neurones. In addition, during fetal life or following the development of pituitary tumors, leptin can also act directly at the anterior pituitary.
 ...
PMID:Regulation of somatotroph cell function by the adipose tissue. 1099 21

In 1994, Zhang et al. of Rockefeller University in New York reported the first successful complementary DNA (cDNA) cloning of leptin by the positional cloning method. Leptin was identified as the gene of ob/ob mouse in genetic obesity syndromes. It has very strong food intake control, and body weight and energy expenditure. The name "leptin" derived from the Greek word leptos, meaning "thin." We hereby review major advances leading to our current finding of leptin, leptin receptor and its structure, the outline of homozygote, and also influence of leptin in the pituitary. (The structure of leptin) The mouse obese gene has been localized to chromosome 6. With human leptin gene on chromosome 7q31.3, its DNA has more than 15000 base pairs and consists of three exons and two introns. For bioactivation of leptin the importance of disulfide-binding site is suggested. Human leptin which replaced the 128-th arginine with glutamine has the function of an aldosteron antagonist, which is reported to have the function of athrocytosis inhibition. The resemblance of leptin precursor of human, mouse and rat is very high, i.e., mouse and rat homology is 96% and mouse and human homology is 83%. (The structure of leptin receptor) The mutant gene, which is the cause of obesity, was shown on map on diabetic mouse (db/db) chromosome 4, and it was proven to be the same as the leptin receptor gene cloned by Tartaglia et all. Further studies have found the Zucker fatty rat (fa/fa) to be incorporated into a linkage map of rat chromosome 5, whose region of rat is the equivalent to the region of conserved synteny of the db/db mouse gene. The leptin receptor is glycoprotein consisting of a single transmembrane-spanning component. The primary structure of leptin receptor belongs to the cytokine-class1 family, the single membrane-spanning receptor, and is highly related to the gp130 signal-transducing component of the interleukin-6 (IL-6) receptor, the granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) receptor, and the leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) receptor. The leptin receptor is known to have at least six existing isoforms (Ob-Ra, b, c, d, e, f) from the difference in splicing. (Homozygote Mutation of Leptin and Leptin Receptor :Hormone Secretion Disorders) The point mutation of ob/ob mouse and the splicing mutation of db/db mouse show remarkable obesity and hyperphagia. These obesity models show a reproduction disorder with both the male and the female, and they develop with homozygote. The cause is thought to be the gonadotropin secretory abnormality in pituitary. Three family lines report the cases of this deficiency, and it is considered that the secretory abnormality in pituitary develops into hypogonadotropic. These patients show low value in plasma FSHbeta (follicle stimulating hormone-beta and LHbeta (luteinizing hormone-beta which are produced from pituitary, and the plasma GnRH (gonadotropin releasing hormone) level is also low. Furthermore, the leptin receptor deficient family line was reported in 1998, in which case only the homozygote developed. The plasma leptin concentration of normal human is about 8.0 ng/ml, and this case with leptin receptor deficiency has high value of 500-700 ng/ml, which is the equivalent to the db/db mouse. (Role of Leptin in Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Periphery Function) The role of leptin which regulates pituitary hormones suggests the promotion the GHRH (growth hormone releasing hormone) secretion in hypothalamus-pituitary axis, with the possibility of the rise in secretion of GH (growth hormone) in pituitary, i.e. effects of icv (intracerebroventricular) infusion of leptin has spontaneously stimulated GHRH, which promotes GH secretion in the normal rats. On the other hand, topical treatment of GH3 (derived from a rat pituitary GH-secreting cell line) with leptin directly inhibits cell proliferation. The obesity model animals (ob/ob, db/db, fa/fa) have equally plump body compared to the normal models, which shows signs of sufficient growth. (Localization and Functional Relevance of Leptin and Leptin Receptor in Rodents Pituitary) Aside from being the food intake inhibitor and the energy control factor, leptin takes part in controlling the pituitary hormones. Promoting the secretion of GH, PRL (prolactin), TSHbeta (thyroid stimulating hormone-beta, FSHbeta/LHbeta, and inhibiting the secretion of ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone) are the major changes of pituitary hormones which are brought on by leptin. The expressive localization is specific, and immunohistochemistry (IHC) method recognized leptin in granular state in FSHbeta, LHbeta and TSHbeta positive cells. In our biochemical examination, the bulk of the expression of leptin is recognized in fraction of the secretory granule. In particular, FSHbeta cells had the highest percentage rate of colocalized leptin in rat pituitary. On the other hand, leptin receptor has been reported to be found only in normal rat pituitary, human pituitary adenoma, and respective cell lines in pituitaries by the RT-PCR method until now, but we disclosed for the first time the localization of leptin receptor on the plasma membrane of GH-secreting cells with the IHC method that has not been cleared so far. These findings show that leptin and leptin receptor have been expressed in different cells, and that the rat pituitary glands entertain paracrine mechanism between leptin (FSHbeta/LHbeta cells) and leptin receptor (GH cells). The function of paracrine in this pituitary suggests a new point of view in hypothalamus-pituitary axis, and it shall be concerned with many aspects such as hormone secretions and proliferation/inhibition. (Human Pituitary Adenoma) Preliminary report of leptin and leptin-receptor relationship with pituitary adenoma that has secretion abnormality has been filed, and its manifestation is being observed by the RT-PCR. Leptin and leptin receptor are expressed in most adenoma, and it is thought to function by autocrine and paracrine pathway in the adenomas. Leptin has been located in ACTH-secreting adenoma most frequently, especially in ACTH carcinoma. The leptin receptor is detected in all adenomas with high percentage rate, with both long and short forms, and then many cases of nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas, compared with other adenomas, have been reported to be positive with both long and short forms of leptin receptor as detected by RT-PCR. The HP75 cell line is derived from the nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma, which produces FSHbeta and LHbeta. The expression of leptin receptor in nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma, and the suppression of HP75 multiplication may lead to the possible hypothesis of leptin becoming one factor for the treatment of pituitary adenoma, especially in gonadotropin adenomas.
 ...
PMID:Leptin and the pituitary. 1182 4

Albright hereditary osteodystrophy (AHO) is a genetic disorder caused by heterozygous inactivating mutations in GNAS, the gene that encodes the alpha-chain of Gs (G alpha s). This syndrome is associated with short stature, obesity, brachydactyly, and subcutaneous ossifications. Patients with GNAS mutations on maternally-inherited alleles are resistant to multiple G-protein-coupled hormones, including parathyroid hormone (PTH), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), luteinizing hormone/follicle-stimulating hormone (LH/FSH), and glucagon. This variant of AHO, termed pseudohypoparathyroidism (PHP) type 1a, is due to tissue-specific paternal imprinting of G alpha s. We investigated whether patients with PHP type 1a exhibited evidence of resistance to growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) (1), another hormone requiring G alpha s function. In addition, G alpha s transcripts are imprinted in the pituitary somatotrophs responsible for growth hormone (GH) secretion which could thereby influence GHRH-dependent stimulation of somatotrophs. We therefore hypothesized that patients with PHP type 1a may be GH deficient which could contribute to the obesity and short stature in this condition. We found that GH deficiency is common in PHP type 1a (69%) with a prevalence that is much greater than in the general population (0.03%). We propose that GH status be evaluated in all patients with this condition. Treatment with recombinant GH could lead to improvements in height in children, as well as other physical (eg, obesity, hyperlipidemia, osteoporosis, reduced renal function) and psychological (fatigue and diminished sense of well-being) parameters in GH-deficient PHP type 1a patients of all ages.
 ...
PMID:Short stature, obesity, and growth hormone deficiency in pseudohypoparathyroidism type 1a. 1667 31


1 2 Next >>