Pituitary and Adrenal Function in Undernutrition with Mental Illness

1963 ◽  
Vol 109 (461) ◽  
pp. 480-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Marks ◽  
R. G. Bannister
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
Urinary Excretion ◽  
Pituitary Gland ◽  
Anterior Pituitary ◽  
Anterior Pituitary Gland ◽  
Adrenal Function ◽  
Pituitary Function ◽  
Prolonged Starvation

Urinary excretion of adrenal metabolites, especially neutral 17-ketosteroids, is often low in patients with anorexia nervosa (Escamilla, 1949; Bliss and Branch, 1960). This has been taken (Emanuel, 1956; Greenblatt et al., 1951) to provide evidence of adreno-cortical insufficiency secondary to defective pituitary function (Sheldon, 1939; Perloff et al., 1954). According to Perloff et al. (1954) “prolonged starvation may result in functional hypopituitarism, whose differentiation from the syndrome of hypopituitary cachexia due to structural impairment of the anterior pituitary gland is at times extremely difficult, even when the accepted tests for endocrine adequacy are performed”.

Wiеssener. Chemical diagnosis of pregnancy (Zbl gyn. 1936, 27, 1588-1596)

1937 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 649-650
Author(s):  
B. Ivanov
Keyword(s):  
Urinary Excretion ◽  
Pituitary Gland ◽  
Anterior Pituitary ◽  
Anterior Pituitary Gland

A. reports on the results of the use, for the purpose of diagnosing pregnancy, the reaction proposed by Visscher and Bowman, based on the detection by chemical means of increased urinary excretion of the hormone of the anterior pituitary gland.

MRI Assessment of Pituitary Iron and Volume in Thalassemia, and Relation to Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Gonadal Axis Function (HPG): A Feasibility Study.

Blood ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 108 (11) ◽  
pp. 1778-1778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiyue J. Wang ◽  
Roland Fischer ◽  
Ellen Butensky ◽  
Lynne Neumayr ◽  
Sylvia Titi Singer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pituitary Gland ◽  
Relaxation Rate ◽  
Anterior Pituitary ◽  
Spin Echo ◽  
Anterior Pituitary Gland ◽  
Pituitary Function ◽  
Slice Thickness ◽  
Relaxation Rates ◽  
Hpg Axis ◽  
Spin Echo Sequence

Abstract Improvements in transfusion and chelation treatment have led to increased survival of patients with thalassemia (THAL), however, HPG axis dysfunction continues as the most prevalent complication of iron-overload in THAL. The critical target organ for HPG axis dysfunction in thalassemia is the anterior pituitary gland. In a pilot study on iron-induced endocrinopathies in chronically transfused thalassemia and sickle cell disease (SCD) patients, we developed MRI methods to quantitatively assess pituitary iron by measuring the transversal relaxation rate (R2), the anterior and posterior volume, and anterior pituitary height. We examined the hypothesis that iron will be elevated in the pituitary of heavily transfused thalassemia patients, but gland volume and height will correlate more closely with function. We scanned 13 subjects (controls 8, HbE-thalassemia and thalassemia major 4, iron-overloaded SCD 1) with a total of 17 measurements in a 1.5 Tesla imager of Children’s Hospital Oakland (Philips Gyroscan®) using a quadrature head coil. Two of 4 thalassemia patients were on hormone replacement treatment. The relaxation rate R2 of the anterior pituitary gland was determined from 2 or 3 sagittal slices (3 mm slice thickness, 0.3 mm gap, manually traced ROI covering more than 60% of the gland within each slice) by a turbo-spin echo sequence acquiring 8 evenly spaced echoes (TE = 15, 30,..., 120 ms, TR = 2500 ms). Anterior and posterior pituitary volumes were analyzed from sagittal slices by manual tracing (3D FFE, 1 mm3 isotropic voxel, TE = 4.6 ms, TR = 9.8 ms, a = 15°). Anterior pituitary height was obtained from routine T1 weighted sagittal multi-slice spin echo images (slice thickness 3 mm, gap 0.3 mm). Liver iron concentration (LIC) by SQUID biosusceptometry was used for total body iron estimation. A reproducibility of 2.6 % (COV) was determined in a normal subject for a mean R2 = 11.8 s−1. The relaxation rates for the control group R2 = 10.8 ± 0.8 s−1 and the thalassemia group R2 = 14.3 ± 1.4 s−1 were significantly different (p (U-test) < 0.001) with no overlap. A weak Spearman rank correlation was found with LIC (RS = 0.71, p < 0.04), but not with plasma ferritin. Anterior pituitary height H and volume V were related by V [mm3] = 95 · H [mm] - 187 (R2 = 0.80). For the anterior pituitary, a significant correlation was found between R2 and volume (RS = −0.59, p < 0.04). Although volumes and heights did not significantly differentiate between the patients and controls, the two THAL patients with abnormal pituitary function had lower anterior pituitary volume and height compared with the two others with normal function. The one iron-overloaded SCD patient had normal R2 and pituitary function; volume and height were in the same range as controls. In summary, the higher transverse relaxation rates indicate elevated iron concentrations in the anterior pituitary gland in all of our thalassemia patients. Pituitary volumes or heights alone may reflect pituitary function, but abnormal volume/height was only seen in patients with high R2. Additional studies in patients with thalassemia and SCD are required to confirm these preliminary observations.

EFFECTS OF OESTROGEN ON PITUITARY FUNCTION IN THE THYROIDECTOMIZED RAT

1965 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. F. Amesbury ◽  
A. N. Contopoulos ◽  
A. A. Koneff
Keyword(s):  
Growth Hormone ◽  
Pituitary Gland ◽  
Anterior Pituitary ◽  
Anterior Pituitary Gland ◽  
Pituitary Function ◽  
Male Rats ◽  
Typical Development ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Pituitary Glands ◽  
Growth Promoting

ABSTRACT The effects of oestrogen administration on normal and thyroidectomized male rats were studied and compared with control groups. Determinations of trophic hormones in plasma and anterior pituitary glands were attained by bioassay procedures. In the intact rat injected with oestrogen, the growth hormone content of the anterior pituitary gland was decreased, whereas in the thyroidectomized male rats the content was elevated to levels above normal. It was found that the growth promoting potency of plasma from thyroidectomized male animals could be restored to normal levels by the administration of oestrogen. The administration of oestrogen to the thyroidectomized rat did not affect the TSH content of pituitary glands or plasma, whereas in the intact rat, resulted in a decrease in the TSH content of the pituitary gland. Administration of oestrogen decreased the gonadotrophic content of the pituitary gland in the normal and thyroidectomized rat. Pituitary glands from thyroidectomized rats injected with oestrogens showed reappearance of acidophils coupled with the typical development of post-thyroidectomy basophils.

Effects of estrogens on the characteristics of [3H]spiroperidol and [3H]RU24213 binding in rat anterior pituitary gland and brain

1979 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thérèse Di Paolo ◽  
Réjean Carmichael ◽  
Fernand Labrie ◽  
Jean-Pierre Raynaud
Keyword(s):  
Pituitary Gland ◽  
Anterior Pituitary ◽  
Anterior Pituitary Gland

Effect of hypothalamic neuropeptides on corticotrophin release from quarters of rat anterior pituitary gland in vitro

1984 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. A. Nicholson ◽  
T. E. Adrian ◽  
B. Gillham ◽  
M. T. Jones ◽  
S. R. Bloom
Keyword(s):  
Pituitary Gland ◽  
Anterior Pituitary ◽  
Low Dose ◽  
Physiological Role ◽  
Anterior Pituitary Gland ◽  
High Concentration ◽  
Response Curves ◽  
Corticotrophin Releasing Factor ◽  
Basal Release

ABSTRACT The effect of six hypothalamic peptides on the basal release of ACTH and that induced by arginine vasopressin (AVP) or by ovine corticotrophin releasing factor (oCRF) from fragments of the rat anterior pituitary gland incubated in vitro was investigated. Dose–response curves to AVP and to oCRF were obtained, and the response to a low dose of oCRF was potentiated by a low dose of AVP. Basal release of ACTH was not affected by any of the peptides in concentrations in the range 10−12 to 10−6 mol/l, and only substance P (SP) and somatostatin (SRIF) inhibited significantly the response to oCRF in a dose-related manner. The responses to a range of doses of oCRF or AVP were reduced by 10−8 and 10 − 6 mol SP or SRIF/1, and to a greater extent by the higher dose. Except in the case of 10−6 mol SRIF/1 on the response to AVP, the response was not further diminished by preincubation of the tissue with the peptide before the stimulating agent was added. The inhibition of the responses to AVP or oCRF by 10−9 mol SP/1 was not potentiated by its combination with either 5 × 10−10 or 10−8 mol SRIF/1; the inhibitory effects were merely additive. The results suggest that although SRIF and SP are able to modulate the release of ACTH from the anterior pituitary gland, they do so only at a high concentration. In the case of SRIF these concentrations are several orders of magnitude higher than those reported to be present in the hypophysial portal blood and therefore a physiological role for this peptide in the control of ACTH secretion is unlikely. J. Endocr. (1984) 100, 219–226

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