Browsing by Person "Kenyon, Christopher J."

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Conditional deletion of Hsd11b2 in the brain causes salt appetite and hypertension
(American Heart Association, 2016-03-07) Evans, Louise C.; Ivy, Jessica R.; Wyrwoll, Caitlin; McNairn, Julie A.; Menzies, Robert I.; Christensen, Thorbjørn H.; Al-Dujaili, Emad A. S.; Kenyon, Christopher J.; Mullins, John J.; Seckl, Jonathan R.; Holmes, Megan C.; Bailey, Matthew A.
Background—The hypertensive syndrome of Apparent Mineralocorticoid Excess is caused by loss-of-function mutations in the gene encoding 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (11βHSD2), allowing inappropriate activation of the mineralocorticoid receptor by endogenous glucocorticoid. Hypertension is attributed to sodium retention in the distal nephron, but 11βHSD2 is also expressed in the brain. However, the central contribution to Apparent Mineralocorticoid Excess and other hypertensive states is often overlooked and is unresolved. We therefore used a Cre-Lox strategy to generate 11βHSD2 brain-specific knockout (Hsd11b2.BKO) mice, measuring blood pressure and salt appetite in adults.
Glucocorticoid receptor alters isovolumetric contraction and restrains cardiac fibrosis
(Society for Endocrinology, 2017-01-05) Richardson, Rachel V.; Batchen, Emma J.; Thomson, Adrian J. W.; Darroch, Rowan; Pan, Xinlu; Rog-Zielinska, Eva A.; Wyrzykowska, Wiktoria; Scullion, Kathleen; Al-Dujaili, Emad A. S.; Diaz, Mary E.; Moran, Carmel M.; Kenyon, Christopher J.; Gray, Gillian A.; Chapman, Karen E.
Corticosteroids directly affect the heart and vasculature and are implicated in the pathogenesis of heart failure. Attention is focussed upon the role of the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) in mediating pro-fibrotic and other adverse effects of corticosteroids upon the heart. In contrast, the role of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) in the heart and vasculature is less well understood. We addressed this in mice with cardiomyocyte and vascular smooth muscle deletion of GR (SMGRKO mice). Survival of SMGRKO mice to weaning was reduced compared with that of littermate controls. Doppler measurements of blood flow across the mitral valve showed an elongated isovolumetric contraction time in surviving adult SMGRKO mice, indicating impairment of the initial left ventricular contractile phase. Although heart weight was elevated in both genders, only male SMGRKO mice showed evidence of pathological cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, associated with increased myosin heavy chain-β expression. Left ventricular fibrosis, evident in both genders, was associated with elevated levels of mRNA encoding MR as well as proteins involved in cardiac remodelling and fibrosis. However, MR antagonism with spironolactone from birth only modestly attenuated the increase in pro-fibrotic gene expression in SMGRKO mice, suggesting that elevated MR signalling is not the primary driver of cardiac fibrosis in SMGRKO mice, and cardiac fibrosis can be dissociated from MR activation. Thus, GR contributes to systolic function and restrains normal cardiac growth, the latter through gender-specific mechanisms. Our findings suggest the GR:MR balance is critical in corticosteroid signalling in specific cardiac cell types.
Introgressed chromosome 2 quantitative trait loci restores aldosterone regulation and reduces response to salt in the stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rat
(Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, 2014-10) Sampson, Amanda K.; Mohammed, Dashti; Beattie, Wendy; Graham, Delyth; Kenyon, Christopher J.; Al-Dujaili, Emad A. S.; Guryev, Victor; Mcbride, Martin W.; Dominiczak, Anna F.
Paper adds to the growing body of evidence that children can acquire phonological systems before they are able to master the phonetic skills needed to convey the contrasts in that system
Post-prandial changes in salivary glucocorticoids: Effects of dietary cholesterol and associations with bile acid excretion
(2019-02-09) Anderson, Graham W.; Kenyon, Christopher J.; Al-Dujaili, Emad A. S.
Mechanisms to explain post-prandial increases in circulating glucocorticoids are not well understood and may involve increased adrenal secretion and/or altered steroid metabolism. We have compared salivary levels of cortisol and cortisone levels in healthy male and female volunteers fed either a low or cholesterol-rich midday meal. Urinary levels of steroids, bile acids and markers of lipid peroxidation were also measured. Males and females showed expected circadian changes in salivary steroids and postprandial peaks within 1h of feeding. After a high-cholesterol meal, postprandial cortisol increases were higher in males whereas post-prandial cortisone levels were higher in females. Urinary cortisol but not cortisone levels were higher on the day when males and females ate a high-cholesterol meal. Urinary bile acid excretion and anti-oxidant markers of lipid peroxidation, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and total phenol content were not affected by dietary cholesterol but tended to be higher in males. Cross-tabulation of correlation coefficients indicated positive associations between urinary markers of peroxidation, bile acids, and cortisol:cortisone ratios. We conclude that dietary cholesterol (a substrate for steroidogenesis) does not have an acute effect on adrenal glucocorticoid synthesis and that gender but not a high-cholesterol meal may influence the interconversion of cortisol and cortisone. Longer term studies of the effects of dietary cholesterol are needed to analyze the associations between bile acids, steroid metabolism, and secretion and lipid peroxidation.