ESPE Abstracts

Stress is increasingly associated with cardiac disease. Glucocorticoids are primary stress hormones that regulate homeostasis through two nuclear receptors, the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and mineralocorticoid receptor (MR). Cardiomyocytes express both receptors but little is known concerning their specific and coordinated actions in heart physiology and pathology. To examine the in vivo function of glucocorticoid signaling in the heart, we generated mice with cardi...

Glucocorticoids (cortisol in humans, corticosterone in rodents) are critical regulators of energy metabolism and immunity. Their secretion by the adrenal gland follows a circadian pattern, with serum concentrations peaking before the active phase (day in humans, night in rodents). Synthetic glucocorticoids are the most potent anti-inflammatory agents known, and are widely used therapeutically, with >1% of the UK population holding a prescription long-term. However, frequen...

Glucocorticoid hormones virtually influence all human functions both in a basal homeostatic condition and under stress. Thus, many other biological pathways adjust glucocorticoid actions in local tissues (tissue glucocorticoid sensitivity) by targeting the single receptor molecule glucocorticoid receptor (GR) as part of the regulatory loop coordinating complex human functions. Among them, chemical modification of GR, such as by acetylation and phosphorylation, is highlighted a...