From:
"Sukie Crandall"
Date: 2008-03-25 15:28:55 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Dr. Jerry Murray has approved this post:
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Well, unlike insulinoma which is sorely understudied and still tied up
with hypotheses rather than anything decently known, there are
instead a very large number of adrenal disease studies (some
veterinary, many others by researchers in human med using ferrets
as animal models) which give a large amount of information on how
adrenal disease develops.
You can read about it in the latest issue of Ferrets Magazine (their
last paper issue before they become entirely an electronic resource)
so look in magazine stores and pet stores for that.
You can also find excellent summaries in the FHL Archives.
It would depend on if those hormones would affect the levels of critical
other ones in the cascade that leads to adrenal disease, and mostly on
if those hormones in the foods raised levels of Luteinizing Hormone in
the ferrets.
A number of concepts that were popular in the ferret community to
"explain" ferret adrenal disease wound up falling flat when studied:
interesting ideas but not involved...
There are now two genetic alterations shown which perhaps can increase
the involved ferrets' chances of getting endocrinological diseases like
adrenal neoplasia or insulinoma: MEN (Multiple Endocrinological Neoplasia)
genetic variant, and p53 variant. You can find more on these in the very
easily used, complete (7 years) FHL archives at
http://ferrethealth.org/archive
These should help with your immediate question:
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL1843
START QUOTE
Hi everybody,
There has been some recent posts about how to
prevent adrenal gland disease, and there seems to
be some confusion on how some of the adrenal
medications work and how they might prevent adrenal
gland disease. I'll try to clear up some of that confusion.
Lupron and Deslorelin both work at the pituitary level to
stop the production of LH. Without LH there is no stimulation
to the adrenal glands. Without the stimulation from LH, the adrenal
gland stops producing hormones. Plus cases of hyperplasia (and
possibly even adenomas) may become smaller and may even return
to normal size with Lupron or Deslorelin treatment. However they
do not work directly on the adrenal glands. Melatonin works a little
differently. It works at the hypothalamus level to reduce LH production.
It may also work directly on the adrenal glands thru melatonin receptors
on the adrenal glands! This helps to prevent the adrenal gland from getting
bigger.
As far as using these products to prevent adrenal gland disease, starting
a juvenile ferret on them may prevent that ferret from getting adrenal
disease.
Likewise starting an adult ferret on them before they have signs of adrenal
gland disease may prevent them from getting adrenal disease as they
get older. However it requires Lupron monthly, year round, for the rest of
its life and not just one dose each spring.
As far as a genetic problem and adrenal gland disease, preliminary work
done by Dr Wagner at the U of Pitt has shown a defect in a tumor suppressor
gene (P53). This defect causes a loss of tumor suppression, so tumors
can form much easier and grow much bigger. He presented this info at
the symposium in Portland.
Hope that helps clear up some of the confusion.
Jerry Murray, DVM
END QUOTE
FROM ALMOST TWO YEARS AGO:
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG17116
and
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG17145
Of course, some friends who are even more sticklers for doing
things right than I am -- and they are right in this -- have
pointed out that i should have written "demonstrated" rather
than "proven".
BEGIN QUOTES
adrenal disease cause no longer a hypothesis but now PROVEN
Trying this a second time since the first did not make it.
---
I have been in correspondence with Dr. Jerry Murray who didn't have
time to write, but we wanted to make sure that the ferret community
realizes that when the existing research is taken together we have a
PROVEN cause of adrenal disease.
Dr. Murray writes and gives me permission to send along:
"Yes I would say it is a fact now that LH is
over stimulating the adrenal glands and that
causes the adrenal glands to go wild!
Plus spay/neuter and long day photoperiods increase
the LH levels. I'll be going over the pathogenesis in
Toronto! "
Yes, after all of these years it is no longer just a hypothesis. The gaps
have been filled. Things which cause a persistent increase in the
production of Luteinizing Hormone (LH) do cause adrenal disease.
Some factors which are involved are neutering and too little complete
darkness (which equals too little melatonin).
For those who want to learn more Dr. Murray will be going over the
pathogenesis in the Canadian IFC Ferret Aid Symposium in just two
months:
http://www.ferretaid.org/events/ferret_aid_2006.html
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
There is also some on-going work which may show whether there
is a genetic component for some cases.
It seemed like it would be a joy for people to know that another very
long term goal for improving ferret health has been achieved, and that
this knowledge will help improve approaches to adrenal disease in ferrets.
AND
I have had it pointed out to me that some people have read the
adrenal research announcement to mean that the work was all by
Dr. Jerry Murray. That had not previous struck me as a possible
interpretation, and I strongly apologize that it could be read that way.
That is not the case. In fact, a person doesn't want all scientific work
to be done by one person. Independent confirmation is is of huge
importance.
The largest body of work that I know of on adrenal disease in ferrets
is by Dr. Nico Schoemaker of the Netherlands.
There are also pieces of work on LH, melatonin, Lupron, deslorin/
Suprelorin, etc. by others as well, such as Dr. Murray, Dr Cathy
Johnson-Delaney, and a number more.
The most recent publishing of adrenal work I mentioned here
was "Gonadectomy-induced adrenocortical neoplasia in the
domestic ferret (Mustela putorius furo) and laboratory mouse."
by Bielinska M, Kiiveri S, Parviainen H, Mannisto S, Heikinheimo M,
Wilson DB in Vet Pathol. 2006 Mar;43(2):97-117.
*****I want to extend my apologies to Dr. Schoemaker and to all
the other researchers who also worked on adrenal disease for this
possible mode of interpretation of my words. Obviously, the
revelation that my post could be read that way has deeply startled
me.*****
The reason I mentioned Dr. Murray is because I am something of
a stickler for independent confirmation studies, and now that the
latest work was published it seemed to me that all bases had been
covered and confirmed so I asked him if he thought the same. He did,
which reassured me since I am not a professional in the field and I
trust his expertise, and because endocrinology is very convoluted
so I wanted to be sure that my lack of expertise was not introducing
a blank spot of which I should be aware. (There will be those who
demand even higher degrees of rigor, and there will be those who
will not have waited for independent confirmation. Degrees of
preferred rigor can vary among people.)
Again, my apologies for that possible way of reading my post.
This apology will of course appear in the three places where I placed
that announcement.
-- Sukie
END QUOTES
That study which was at the time the most recent one mentioned
provided independent verification of the last step in the process which
hadn't yet had independent verification.
There are certainly more past posts to help you.
The critical search terms are things like
LH and adrenal
or
Luteinizing and adrenal
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
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