Pulsatile patterns in hormone secretion.
Endocrine systems are regulated dynamically. With the development of sensitive methods for hormone measurements and high-frequency blood sampling, it has been shown in many endocrine systems that hormonal information is encoded in distinct pulses varying in frequency from minutes to hours. Focusing on pituitary hormones as an example, this review discusses the relevance of this pulsatile pattern of secretion on the regulation of endocrine systems and its implications on diagnosis and therapy o f endocrine diseases.
Brabant
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Georg Brabant, Klaus Prank, and Christoph Schofl are at the Department of Clinical Endocrinology, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, D-3000 Hannover 61, Germany.
Prank
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K
Schofl
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