scholarly journals Early and late endocrine complications of COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. R229-R239
Author(s):  
Paraskevi Kazakou ◽  
Stavroula A Paschou ◽  
Theodora Psaltopoulou ◽  
Maria Gavriatopoulou ◽  
Eleni Korompoki ◽  
...  

Endocrine system plays a vital role in controlling human homeostasis. Understanding the possible effects of COVID-19 on endocrine glands is crucial to prevent and manage endocrine disorders before and during hospitalization in COVID-19-infected patients as well as to follow them up properly upon recovery. Many endocrine glands such as pancreas, hypothalamus and pituitary, thyroid, adrenal glands, testes, and ovaries have been found to express angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptors, the main binding site of the virus. Since the pandemic outbreak, various publications focus on the aggravation of preexisting endocrine diseases by COVID-19 infection or the adverse prognosis of the disease in endocrine patients. However, data on endocrine disorders both during the phase of the infection (early complications) and upon recovery (late complications) are scarce. The aim of this review is to identify and discuss early and late endocrine complications of COVID-19. The majority of the available data refer to glucose dysregulation and its reciprocal effect on COVID-19 infection with the main interest focusing on the presentation of new onset of diabetes mellitus. Thyroid dysfunction with low triiodothyronine, low thyroid stimulating hormone, or subacute thyroiditis has been reported. Adrenal dysregulation and impaired spermatogenesis in affected men have been also reported. Complications of other endocrine glands are still not clear. Considering the recent onset of COVID-19 infection, the available follow-up data are limited, and therefore, long-term studies are required to evaluate certain effects of COVID-19 on the endocrine glands.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sina Stucker ◽  
Jessica De Angelis ◽  
Anjali P. Kusumbe

The endocrine system consists of several highly vascularized glands that produce and secrete hormones to maintain body homeostasis and regulate a range of bodily functions and processes, including growth, metabolism and development. The dense and highly vascularized capillary network functions as the main transport system for hormones and regulatory factors to enable efficient endocrine function. The specialized capillary types provide the microenvironments to support stem and progenitor cells, by regulating their survival, maintenance and differentiation. Moreover, the vasculature interacts with endocrine cells supporting their endocrine function. However, the structure and niche function of vasculature in endocrine tissues remain poorly understood. Aging and endocrine disorders are associated with vascular perturbations. Understanding the cellular and molecular cues driving the disease, and age-related vascular perturbations hold potential to manage or even treat endocrine disorders and comorbidities associated with aging. This review aims to describe the structure and niche functions of the vasculature in various endocrine glands and define the vascular changes in aging and endocrine disorders.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 2075
Author(s):  
Weronika Wasyluk ◽  
Martyna Wasyluk ◽  
Agnieszka Zwolak

Sepsis is defined as “life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection”. One of the elements of dysregulated host response is an endocrine system disorder. Changes in its functioning in the course of sepsis affect almost all hormonal axes. In sepsis, a function disturbance of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis has been described, in the range of which the most important seems to be hypercortisolemia in the acute phase. Imbalance in the hypothalamic–pituitary–thyroid axis is also described. The most typical manifestation is a triiodothyronine concentration decrease and reverse triiodothyronine concentration increase. In the somatotropic axis, a change in the secretion pattern of growth hormone and peripheral resistance to this hormone has been described. In the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis, the reduction in testosterone concentration in men and the stress-induced “hypothalamic amenorrhea” in women have been described. Catecholamine and β-adrenergic stimulation disorders have also been reported. Disorders in the endocrine system are part of the “dysregulated host response to infection”. They may also affect other components of this dysregulated response, such as metabolism. Hormonal changes occurring in the course of sepsis require further research, not only in order to explore their potential significance in therapy, but also due to their promising prognostic value.


1994 ◽  
Vol 267 (1) ◽  
pp. F1-F12 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. King ◽  
J. C. Fray

H and K ions play central roles in prorenin processing and secretion, and prorenin is abnormally expressed in H and K disorders. At the surface membrane of juxtaglomerular (JG) cells, K is sensed and regulated by K channels (coupled to Cl channels and activated by excess Ca), Na-K-adenosinetriphosphatase, and a KCl/H exchange transporter (regulated by Ca). In JG cell granular membrane, K flux is regulated by K channels and a KCl/H exchange transporter (activated by Ca). H channels and a H pump reside in the granular membrane, which maintain H concentration in the granular matrix at least two orders of magnitude greater than in cytosol. The H pump may also be responsible for maintaining the acidic matrix required for maximal prorenin processing to renin by prohormone convertase for human renin (PCren), the prorenin convertase. These molecules form the core of a chemiosmotic system, which appears to regulate both prorenin processing and renin secretion. Renin secretion and prorenin processing appear to be of more than causal significance in clinical disorders characterized by chemiosmotic imbalance. A critical review of the literature supports the following general conclusions. First, hyperrenin state defines the initial phase in the pathogenesis of heart disease, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. Second, low-renin syndrome defines the transition-to-establish phase in the pathogenesis of heart disease, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension in which the key feature is renin secretory hyporesponsivity. Third, renin disorders are usually associated with other endocrine disorders (polyendocrinopathies types I, II, and III), suggesting that renin may be an important molecule in the processing of chemiosmotic forces. The key chemiosmotic molecules (K and H) are also important in the processing and export of most (if not all) hormones. Thus, by regulating K and H homeostasis, renin may regulate the endocrine system.


2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (10-11) ◽  
pp. 910-918
Author(s):  
B. S. Tarlo

The study of the ovarian-endocrine system has entered a new stage since the discovery of a biological reaction, which makes it possible to judge the specificity and activity of the manufactured preparations of the endocrine glands.


1989 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 184-191
Author(s):  
Laura K. Bachrach ◽  
Thomas P. Foley

Thyroiditis ranks with diabetes as the most common of the endocrine disorders of childhood. The term encompasses all forms of thyroid gland inflammation and infection, although chronic lymphocytic thynoiditis is overwhelmingly the most frequent. Thyroiditis may appear as a mass in the neck of an asymptomatic child or it may be a painful, erythematous goiter in a sick child. The affected thyroid gland may be small on large, with varying degrees of dysfunction. Most commonly, thyroiditis causes euthyroid function, although the disease process can result in transient or permanent thyroid dysfunction. The causes of thyroiditis in childhood, as well as the less common thyroid disorders in the differential diagnosis of goiter, are listed in Table 1. Thyroid physiology and pathophysiology will be discussed briefly to explain the rationale for diagnostic studies and treatment strategies. The more recent diagnostic techniques and therapeutic controversies regarding thyroiditis will be included. The goal is to provide the clinician with renewed awareness of this most common pediatric problem. THYROID PHYSIOLOGY Thyroid hormone production is regulated by a classical negative feedback system (Fig 1). Hypothalamic thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) stimulates the synthesis and secretion of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) from the pituitary. TSH, in turn, stimulates production and release of thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3).


Author(s):  
Helen E. Turner ◽  
Richard Eastell ◽  
Ashley Grossman

This chapter discusses the principles of endocrinology, starting with a description of the anatomy of endocrine glands, hormone structures, and hormone receptors. It similarly provides information on hormone measurements, such as immunoassays, mass spectrometry, hormonal-binding proteins, and biological matrices from serum, urine, and saliva. It relates autoimmunity to the endocrine system, and provides examples of studies of genetic endocrine disorders, such as linkage studies, complex endocrine disease-related case control studies, and genome-wide association studies. Providing information on the endocrine epidemiology, this chapter describes ethnic and geographic variation in disorders such as iodine deficiency, thyroid cancer, vitamin D deficiency, pituitary disease, diabetes, and multiple endocrine neoplasia.


2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-75
Author(s):  
Saman Saedi ◽  
Mohammad Reza Jafarzadeh Shirazi ◽  
Mohammad Javad Zamiri ◽  
Mehdi Totonchi ◽  
Mohammad Dadpasand ◽  
...  

Cadmium (Cd) has been associated with several physiological problems including reproductive and endocrine system dysfunction resulting in temporary infertility. The principal objective of this project was to investigate the effects of prepubertal exposure to toxic doses of Cd on puberty onset, the endocrine system, and follicular development. For this purpose, 16 female Sprague-Dawley rats weaned on postnatal day (PND) 21 were randomly divided into 4 groups ( n = 4 per group). The treatments were as follows: 0, 25, 50, and 75 mg/kg/day of cadmium chloride (CdCl2) by oral gavage from PND 21 to observation of first vaginal opening (VO). The results demonstrated that prepubertal exposure to different doses of CdCl2 delays the age of VO, first diestrus, and first proestrus via altering the concentrations of estradiol and progesterone. The low level of these steroid hormones contributed to lower differentiation and maturation of follicles and it finally led to reduced ovarian reservoir of follicles and impaired follicular development. The number of atretic follicles and secondary follicles with premature cavity increased in rats that received a high dose of CdCl2, whereas the number of secondary follicles and corpora luteum decreased in the same circumstances. Taken together, these data suggest that prepubertal exposure to toxic doses of Cd delays the onset of puberty via disorderliness in the concentration of steroid hormones and reduces the ovarian reservoir of follicles, as well as folliculogenesis.


Author(s):  
Deepa Shanmugham ◽  
Sindhu Natarajan ◽  
Arun Karthik

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and thyroid disorders are two of the most common endocrine disorders in the general population. Both of these endocrine disorders share common predisposing factors, gynaecological features and have profound effect on reproductive function in women. The aim of this study is to study the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome and to evaluate the relationship between polycystic ovarian syndrome and thyroid dysfunction.Methods: This is a cross sectional observational study done on 100 patients with Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome based on Rotterdam’s criteria. The exclusion criteria was hyperprolactinemia, congenital adrenal hyperplasia and virilising tumour. Thyroid function was evaluated by measurement of fasting serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine levels (free T3 and free T4).Results: The mean age of the study patients was 26±4.2 years. Among the study patients, 11% of them had goitre. 18% of the patients with presented with subclinical hypothyroidism. The mean TSH levels in the study patients was 4.62±2.12 mIU/ml. The overall prevalence of thyroid dysfunction was 33% in the study patients with PCOS.Conclusions: This study concludes that the prevalence of hypothyroidism is increased in women with PCOS patients.


2014 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. R151-R163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Weckman ◽  
Antonio Di Ieva ◽  
Fabio Rotondo ◽  
Luis V Syro ◽  
Leon D Ortiz ◽  
...  

Autophagy is an important cellular process involving the degradation of intracellular components. Its regulation is complex and while there are many methods available, there is currently no single effective way of detecting and monitoring autophagy. It has several cellular functions that are conserved throughout the body, as well as a variety of different physiological roles depending on the context of its occurrence in the body. Autophagy is also involved in the pathology of a wide range of diseases. Within the endocrine system, autophagy has both its traditional conserved functions and specific functions. In the endocrine glands, autophagy plays a critical role in controlling intracellular hormone levels. In peptide-secreting cells of glands such as the pituitary gland, crinophagy, a specific form of autophagy, targets the secretory granules to control the levels of stored hormone. In steroid-secreting cells of glands such as the testes and adrenal gland, autophagy targets the steroid-producing organelles. The dysregulation of autophagy in the endocrine glands leads to several different endocrine diseases such as diabetes and infertility. This review aims to clarify the known roles of autophagy in the physiology of the endocrine system, as well as in various endocrine diseases.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Orio ◽  
Giovanna Muscogiuri ◽  
Stefano Palomba ◽  
Bianca Serio ◽  
Mariarosaria Sessa ◽  
...  

Early and late endocrine disorders are among the most common complications in survivors after hematopoietic allogeneic- (allo-) and autologous- (auto-) stem cell transplant (HSCT). This review summarizes main endocrine disorders reported in literature and observed in our center as consequence of auto- and allo-HSCT and outlines current options for their management. Gonadal impairment has been found early in approximately two-thirds of auto- and allo-HSCT patients: 90–99% of women and 60–90% of men. Dysfunctions of the hypothalamus-pituitary-growth hormone/insulin growth factor-I axis, hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid axis, and hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis were documented as later complicances, occurring in about 10, 30, and 40–50% of transplanted patients, respectively. Moreover, overt or subclinical thyroid complications (including persistent low-T3 syndrome, chronic thyroiditis, subclinical hypo- or hyperthyroidism, and thyroid carcinoma), gonadal failure, and adrenal insufficiency may persist many years after HSCT. Our analysis further provides evidence that main recognized risk factors for endocrine complications after HSCT are the underlying disease, previous pretransplant therapies, the age at HSCT, gender, total body irradiation, posttransplant derangement of immune system, and in the allogeneic setting, the presence of graft-versus-host disease requiring prolonged steroid treatment. Early identification of endocrine complications can greatly improve the quality of life of long-term survivors after HSCT.


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