ESPE Abstracts

Insulin-like growth factor (IGF) 2 plays a fundamental role in prenatal growth and development. The IGF2 gene is imprinted, with the paternally inherited copy being active and the maternal copy being silenced in most tissues. During development, the expression of IGF2 is sexually dimorphic in some tissues and this is thought to be involved in the development of some sexually dimorphic features. For example, IGF2 expression is reported to be higher in the male brain co...

Background: Neonatal over-nutrition (NON) can increase the propensity to become overweight and develop associated metabolic disturbances in later life. Moreover, some of these long-term effects are sexually dimorphic.Objective and hypotheses: We aimed to determine how NON affects body weight (BW), body composition and triglyceride (TG) and non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) levels. We hypothesized that the effects would be both age and sex dependant.<...

Background: Circadian disorganization of feeding behavior evoked by high fat diet (HFD) intake is suggested to be involved in the resulting weight gain and development of associated metabolic alterations and hypothalamic inflammation.Hypothesis: We hypothesized that this circadian alteration might be a consequence of rapid de-synchronization of different gene clusters relevant for metabolic control.Methods: We analyzed the circadia...

Introduction: Obesity is known to associate with chronic systemic inflammation. However, hypothalamic inflammation also occurs in response to high fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity and is proposed to participate in central insulin/leptin resistance and the perpetuation of weight gain and systemic affectation. The weight gain and central responses to HFD differ between males and females. As hypothalamic glial cells are implicated in the central inflammatory response we hypothesize...

Background: Beckwith–Wiedemann Syndrome (BWS) is a clinical and genetically heterogeneous entity encompassing overgrowth and variable manifestations. Early diagnosis of BWS is crucial due to the increased risk for developing embryonal malignancies (mainly below 5 years of age).Objective: We aimed to screen the presence of underdiagnosed BWS among ‘non-syndromic’ obese children.Method: We studied 159 children (95 male...

Introduction: Maternal deprivation (MD) during neonatal life has diverse long-term effects, including modification of metabolism. Some of these effects are sexually dimorphic. We have previously reported that MD in rats blocks the physiological neonatal leptin surge, which could underlie the long-term metabolic changes.Hypothesis: We hypothesized that replacement of leptin during MD would normalize long-term endocrine changes.Metho...

Background: Pituitary stalk interruption syndrome (PSIS) is characterized by the absence of the pituitary stalk, pituitary hypoplasia and an ectopic posterior pituitary.Objective: We aimed to retrospectively analyze the clinical, auxological, biochemical, and radiological findings in Spanish patients with PSIS.Patients and results: Of 27 patients, 25% were female and 75% male. Perinatal features, auxological and endocrine study at ...

Background: Intrauterine growth influences the risk of childhood obesity and its associated metabolic derangement.Objective and hypotheses: To investigate the effect of intrauterine growth (as shown by newborn anthropometry) on physical and metabolic features in obese children and adolescents.Method: A retrospective study of 1049 obese children and adolescents (46.8% females/53.2% males; age: 10.31±3.23 years; BMI: +4.00±...

Background: Prolonged poor dietary habits can result in hypothalamic inflammation and gliosis with more recent studies suggest that other brain areas may also be affected. Western or high fat diet intake has been associated with increased cognitive impairment and aberrant feeding behavior, with males and females being differentially affected. The hippocampus participates in both of these functions. Saturated free fatty acids can induce astrocyte inflammation and this could pot...

Background: Despite the lack of drugs, conservative management of childhood obesity allows for considerable weight reduction.Objective and hypotheses: i) To evaluate anthropometric and metabolic changes in obese children after intense weight loss. ii) To analyze the influence of the amount of weight loss and the time spent to attain it on the observed changes. iii) To investigate BMI evolution during the first 3 years after weight reduction.<p class=...