Immunoreactive beta-endorphin was determined in the plasma of 37 elderly subjects (73 +/- 7 years of age), in 3 young or young adult subjects without adrenal disease, in 4 women with clinical adrenogenital syndrome, in 1 man with Cushing's disease. Immunoreactive beta-endorphin in plasma was measured by radioimmunoassay in six samples of each subject collected at 4-hour intervals over a 24-hour span. The observation of a circadian rhythm in circulating immunoreactive beta-endorphin with highest values during the late night and early morning hours is extended to elderly subjects in the 8th decade. The beta-endorphin plasma concentrations in the few clinically healthy young adult subjects studied fell within the same range. The circadian variation of the group of elderly subjects was used as reference in the clinical evaluation of plasma beta-endorphin concentrations in patients with pituitary-adrenocortical disorders. The need for circadian rhythm qualified reference values is shown by the observation of the circadian variations of circulating immunoreactive beta-endorphins in the patients with adrenogenital syndrome and Cushing's disease in whom abnormalities in the concentration of circulating beta-endorphin were found at certain circadian stages but not at others.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Dermatoglyphics in the virilizing polycystic ovary syndrome.

Quantitative and qualitative characteristics (form and orientation of the digital patterns, total digital ridges count, delta index, form and regional distribution of palmar patterns, palmar flexion creases, palmar delta index, atd angle, the direction of the A, B, C, and D palmar lines and the number of crests between the a, b, c, and d triradii) of digito-palmar dermatoglyphics in 33 women with virilizing polycystic ovary (VPO) were studied. The selection was made on the basis of the clinical examination and a complex bio-hormonal exploration of female patients with pilar virilism hospitalized in or treated at the outpatient clinic of the "C. I Parhon" Institute of Endocrinology between 1975 and 1984. The control lot was made up of 100 females and 100 males, clinically healthy, originally from various rural and urban areas in Romania. It was found that the VPO women come within the range of variability of the normal, with some dermatoglyphic peculiarities characteristic of the VPO syndrome; i.e., a lower total digital ridges count, and fewer ridges between the triradii at the basis of the fingers. Qualitatively, there is a preponderance of the loop-like digital patterns, especially those with radial orientation and palmar, compared to the normal, the VPO women present more frequently patterns in the interdigital space II. Palmar flexion lines indicate in VPO women a higher incidence of palmar transversal sulcus variants as compared to normal women. The existence of similar dermatoglyphic peculiarities both in VPO and in adrenogenital syndrome supports the hypothesis that the ovarian hormonogenesis disorders in the VPO syndrome may be genetically determined through an enzymatic defect.

Adult↗