Effects Of Hormone Deprivation Research Articles

Modeling shows the NK3R antagonist, ACER-801, reduces treatment-induced vasomotor symptoms.

e13013 Background: Hot flashes or vasomotor symptoms (VMS) are a common side effect of hormone deprivation (HD) therapy. Up to 80 % of cancer patients treated with tamoxifen (antiestrogen treatment) or leuprolide (androgen deprivation) have VMS. In some cases, patients discontinue HD therapy due to VMS severity and lower quality of life; therefore, reducing VMS is critical for patient compliance. NK3 receptor (NK3R) antagonists have previously been shown to reduce VMS in postmenopausal women. ACER-801 is a candidate NK3R antagonist drug intended to alleviate VMS severity when used with HD therapy. We used Quantitative Systems Pharmacology (QSP) modeling to predict the likely efficacy of ACER-801 in patients on HD therapy and evaluate the potential of hepatic drug-drug interactions between ACER-801 and tamoxifen or leuprolide. Methods: The model is composed of KNDy neurons in the arcuate nucleus with NKB, dynorphin, and estradiol effects on KNDy neurons, HPG axis, sex hormones, and neuroendocrine feedback. ACER-801, tamoxifen, and leuprolide PK, PD, and hepatic metabolism are included in the model. The model was developed, qualified, and tested using literature data. A tamoxifen-treated postmenopausal female virtual patient (VP) and leuprolide-treated male VP were created based on typical patients included in clinical trials. VMS severity and frequency were estimated based on the level of NKB binding to NK3R. Results: In the male VP, simulated leuprolide administration induced hypertrophy of KNDy neurons and VMS over six months. Coadministration of ACER-801 with leuprolide reduced VMS frequency and severity to near 0 in short-term (5-week) simulations. Simulations predict ACER-801 will not alter leuprolide metabolism nor increase plasma testosterone concentrations. Tamoxifen treatment increased VMS by 15% in simulations with the postmenopausal VP. Coadministration of ACER-801 with tamoxifen in this VP reduced VMS by 75% compared to tamoxifen monotherapy. ACER-801 had minimal effects on plasma estradiol concentrations in the postmenopausal VP. Drug-drug interactions between ACER-801 and tamoxifen were dependent on the simulated bioavailability of ACER-801. Using current estimates of ACER-801 bioavailability in the model, the hepatic concentration of ACER-801 had limited effects on tamoxifen metabolism, which are not expected to necessitate dose adjustments. Conclusions: Using a QSP neurobiology model as a research tool enabled us to evaluate the efficacy of the NK3R antagonist, ACER-801, to treat HD therapy-induced VMS. Simulations show ACER-801 may be highly efficacious for the treatment of induced-VMS. The research provided estimates of DDI with ACER-801 and tamoxifen and what clinical experiments would be needed to confirm those estimates.

Comparative effects of sex hormone deprivation on the brain of insulin-resistant rats.

Obese-insulin resistance following chronic high-fat diet consumption led to cognitive decline through several mechanisms. Moreover, sex hormone deprivation, including estrogen and testosterone, could be a causative factor in inducing cognitive decline. However, comparative studies on the effects of hormone-deprivation on the brain are still lacking. Adult Wistar rats from both genders were conducted sham operations or orchiectomies/ovariectomies and given a normal diet or high-fat diet for 4, 8, and 12 weeks. Blood was collected to determine the metabolic parameters. At the end of the experiments, rats were decapitated and their brains were collected to determine brain mitochondrial function, brain oxidative stress, hippocampal plasticity, insulin-induced long-term depression, dendritic spine density, and cognition. We found that male and female rats fed a high-fat diet developed obese-insulin resistance by week 8 and brain defects via elevated brain oxidative stress, brain mitochondrial dysfunction, impaired insulin-induced long-term depression, hippocampal dysplasticity, reduced dendritic spine density, and cognitive decline by week 12. In normal diet-fed rats, estrogen-deprivation, not testosterone-deprivation, induced obese-insulin resistance, oxidative stress, brain mitochondrial dysfunction, impaired insulin-induced long-term depression, hippocampal dysplasticity, and reduced dendritic spine density. In high-fat-diet-fed rats, estrogen deprivation, not testosterone-deprivation, accelerated and aggravated obese-insulin resistance and brain defects at week 8. In conclusion, estrogen deprivation aggravates brain dysfunction more than testosterone deprivation through increased oxidative stress, brain mitochondrial dysfunction, impaired insulin-induced long-term depression, and dendritic spine reduction. These findings may explain clinical reports which show more severe cognitive decline in aging females than males with obese-insulin resistance.

Differential Effects of Estradiol, Progesterone, and Testosterone on Vaginal Structural Integrity

Ovarian steroids are known to be important in maintaining vaginal tissue, and evidence is mounting that imbalances in the hormonal milieu contribute to vaginal pathophysiology. To date, limited data are available on the effects of hormone deprivation and replacement on vaginal tissue morphology and vaginal innervation. The goal of this study was to assess the dynamic changes in vaginal tissue structure in response to sex steroid hormone deprivation and administration. Female Sprague-Dawley rats were either kept intact (controls) or ovariectomized. Ovariectomized animals were treated with vehicle, estradiol, testosterone, progesterone, or a combination of estradiol plus testosterone or progesterone. Histological techniques, including stereological analysis and immunohistochemistry for localization of neuronal markers, were used. Ovariectomy produced a significant decrease in epithelial height that was restored with estradiol replacement. Interestingly, a subphysiological dose of estradiol resulted in hyperplasia of the vaginal epithelium and nonvascular smooth muscle. Neither testosterone nor progesterone had a significant effect on epithelial height or muscularis thickness. However, testosterone treatment resulted in a significant increase in small adrenergic nerve fibers. Addition of either testosterone or progesterone to estradiol mitigated but did not abolish the effects of estradiol alone. This study demonstrates that estradiol and testosterone have differential effects on vaginal tissue parameters and that ovarian hormones are critical for the maintenance of genital tissue structure. Present observations also suggest that combined replacement regimens may be required for an optimal physiological response.

The role of prolactin and growth hormone in the regulation of casein gene expression and mammary cell survival: relationships to milk synthesis and secretion.

We have compared involution of the rat mammary gland, induced by litter removal, where milk accumulation occurs, with involution induced in the presence of the suckling young by combined PRL and GH deficiency. Both treatments induced involutionary processes involving apoptosis, as judged by DNA ladders and resulted in significant decreases in the DNA content of the gland. Surprisingly, the effects of hormone deprivation on protein output in milk were principally explained by the loss of secretory cells, as there were only modest decreases in casein messenger RNA (mRNA) expression and protein synthesis rates per U DNA in vitro. The association of casein mRNA with the polysome fraction was also unaffected by hormone deprivation, whereas involution induced by litter removal resulted in much greater decreases in steady state levels of casein mRNA and an increased association of the mRNAs with the monosome fraction. In PRL- and GH-deficient rats, PRL treatment could prevent all of these effects, GH was partially effective, whereas putative mediators of GH action, insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), IGF-II, and IGF-binding protein-3, were ineffective. This lack of effect of IGFs may be due to an inhibitory IGFBP, which we demonstrate to be present in increased amounts in the involuting mammary gland.

Effects of calcitonin on the renal concentrating mechanism.

The effects of salmon calcitonin on the renal concentrating mechanism were investigated in homozygous DI Brattleboro rats. The levels of peptide hormones believed to produce the same physiological responses as antidiuretic hormone on the thick ascending limb (glucagon, parathyroid hormone, and calcitonin) and the cortical collecting ducts (calcitonin) were reduced by acute thyroparathyroidectomy and somatostatin administration. In these hormone-deprived animals, the corticomedullary concentration gradient was almost abolished; the (F/P)osmol at the tip of the juxtamedullary nephrons was 1.19 +/- 0.05. Calcitonin administration restored the gradient [(F/P)osmol = 1.85 +/- 0.14] and simultaneously absolute and fractional water excretion fell significantly despite the concomitant rise in the glomerular filtration rate. It is concluded that 1) in the hormone-deprived animal, calcitonin administration consistently enhances the corticomedullary concentration gradient, and 2) the effects of hormone deprivation and calcitonin administration on the urinary concentrating mechanism are compatible with direct stimulation by calcitonin of electrolyte reabsorption along the thick ascending limb and/or of the water permeability of the cortical collecting ducts.

Effects of growth hormone and tri-iodothyronine on amino acid incorporation by microsomal subfractions from rat liver.

A two-step procedure without the use of detergents for the separation of smooth and rough endoplasmic reticulum of rat-liver and the fractionation of the latter into “light rough membranes”“heavy rough membranes” and “free polysomes” is described. The distribution of RNA, protein and phospholipid in these fractions as well as their amino acid incorporation characteristics are also described. The heavy rough membrane fraction incorporated 14C-labelled phenylalanine, isoleucine and lysine into protein at a rate 3–5 times greater than that exhibited by the light rough membranes and free polysomes. Stimulation of the incorporation of [14C]phenylalanine and [14C]-isoleucine by poly U and poly UA showed that, per mg ribosomal RNA, the heavy rough membrane fraction was also more active in its response to synthetic messenger RNAs than the other two fractions. Hypophysectomy caused a marked reduction in the amount of ribosomes and phospholipids, the amino acid incorporation capacity and the response to poly U and poly UA in all three rough microsomal subfractions. These effects were reversed in 3–4 days by a combined treatment of hypophysectomized rats with human growth hormone and 3,3′,5-tri-iodo-l-thyronine. Although the amino acid incorporation activity in the presence of endogenous and synthetic template RNA was affected in all the subfractions, the effect of hormone deprivation and replacement was most marked in the heavy rough membrane fraction. The relative stimulation of the incorporation of [14C]phenylalanine and [14C]isoleucine by poly U and poly UA, respectively, by free and membrane-bound polysomes was only slightly lowered in a few cases after hormonal treatment of hypophysectomized rats. However, per mg ribosomal RNA, hormone treatment led to a 2–4-fold enhancement of the incorporation of phenylalanine and isoleucine in response to the synthetic polyribonucleotides. Treatment of heavy rough membranes with sodium deoxycholate showed that much of the hormonal effect on amino acid incorporation was manifested in the ribosomes but that the maximal hormonal effect was detected when these were associated with the membranes. It is concluded that growth hormone and thyroid hormone together control both the amount and amino acid incorporation activity of free and membrane-associated polyribosomes of rat-liver.