ABSTRACT

The relative potencies of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I) and the N-terminal truncated derivative, des(1–3)IGF-I, have been compared in lit/lit mice. Injection of 30 μg IGF-I, 30 μg des(1–3)IGF-I or 3 μg des(1–3)IGF-I daily for 3 weeks increased total length and nose-rump length of the animals substantially more than in controls or animals treated with 3 μg IGF-I daily.

Body weight changes were not statistically significant. The lower dose of des(1–3)IGF-I, but not that of IGF-I, led to increases in kidney and heart weights relative to controls, while the higher dose of either IGF-I or des(1–3)IGF-I also increased the weights of liver, lungs and stomach. These results indicate that the higher potency of des(1–3)IGF-I demonstrated in cultured cells also applies in vivo to at least one strain of GH-deficient animals.

Journal of Endocrinology (1990) 127, 401–405

Abstract

The effect of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) administration on body weight gain and the rate of recovery of renal function was investigated in rats following an acute episode of renal ischaemia. Since the des(1–3)IGF-I and LR³IGF-I variant forms of IGF-I have been shown to be more potent than IGF-I, their effects were also examined. Acute renal failure was produced in male Sprague–Dawley rats by clamping both renal arteries for 45 min. Treatment was commenced at the time of renal artery occlusion with vehicle (0·1 mol acetic acid/l; control group), IGF-I (2·0 mg/kg per day), des(1–3)IGF-I (2·0 mg/kg per day) or LR³IGF-I (1·5 mg/kg per day) by s.c. osmotic pump, and continued for 7 days, with rats being held in metabolism cages. Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was estimated by the use of ⁵¹Cr-EDTA continuously infused i.p. via osmotic pump. Following the episode of renal ischaemia, body weight gain and nitrogen retention were significantly improved in all three peptide-treated groups, and serum urea concentrations were reduced in the groups treated with IGF-I and des(1–3)IGF-I. However, there was no evidence of the variants having any increased potency over the growth effects of IGF-I itself. GFR was significantly reduced, urine output was increased and urinary concentrating ability was reduced in all groups compared with normal rats, with no significant effect of the IGF peptides being apparent.

A closer examination of the acute effects of LR³IGF-I on renal function was undertaken by measuring GFR for 3 days before and 3 days after renal ischaemia in two groups of rats, treated for the latter 3 days with either vehicle (controls) or LR³IGF-I (1·5 mg/kg per day). LR³IGF-I treatment following renal ischaemia resulted in a significantly greater fall in GFR than in controls, urinary osmolality was also significantly reduced, and fractional excretion of sodium was increased. In addition, there was histological evidence of a greater degree of tubular epithelial calcification in the kidneys of the rats treated with LR³IGF-I.

This study showed that administration of IGF peptides at doses sufficient to cause significant improvement in anabolic status did not improve renal function in rats following an acute episode of renal ischaemia. Indeed the LR³IGF-I variant of IGF-I had a deleterious effect on renal function in the early stage of the recovery period.

Journal of Endocrinology (1994) 140, 23–32

ABSTRACT

The effects of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) on the gut of 150 g dexamethasone-treated rats were compared with those of two analogues with reduced affinity for IGF-binding proteins, des(1–3)IGF-I and LR³IGF-I, an N-terminal-extended variant. Administration of IGF-I for 7 days to rats made catabolic by co-treatment with dexamethasone induced a dose-dependent increase in total gut weight, with the highest dose of IGF-I (695 μg/day) increasing gut weight by up to 60%, and gut weight as a fraction of body weight by up to 32%. Effects were apparent in all regions of the gut examined, including the stomach, small intestine and colon. Histological and biochemical analyses of the intestine showed that cross-sectional mass, rather than gut length, was increased, and proportional increases in wet weight, protein and DNA content per unit length were measured in both the mucosa and muscularis layers. The rate of duodenal protein synthesis measured on day 7 of treatment was not increased by IGF-I treatment. The IGF-I analogues had qualitatively similar effects to IGF-I, but were consistently severalfold more potent, providing evidence that IGF-binding proteins reduce the biological activity of exogenous IGF-I in the gut. The results indicate that the gut is one of the most sensitive IGF-I target tissues, and that potency in vivo correlates with a reduced interaction with IGF-binding proteins.

Journal of Endocrinology (1992) 133, 421–431

Emerging early in chordate evolution, the IGF-regulatory axis diverged from an insulin-like predecessor into a vertebrate regulatory system specializing in cell growth activation and allied anabolic functions. Essential to the divergence of the IGF and insulin systems was an early presence of soluble IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs), which bind IGF peptides at much higher affinity than that of the insulin receptor but at comparable affinities to that of the IGF receptor. IGFBPs have no homology with IGF receptors. Instead, IGFBPs are a derived group of proteins within a superfamily of cysteine-rich growth factors, whose members are found throughout the animal taxa. While blocking IGF actions through the insulin receptor is a fundamental role, IGFBPs evolved within the vertebrate line into centralized, 'integrators' of the endocrine growth-regulatory apparatus. IGFBPs have substantial influences on the distribution and bioavailability of IGF peptides in the cellular and physiological environments, but they have a variety of other properties. The six principal mammalian IGFBPs exhibit an array of specialized properties that appear to be derived from a complex evolutionary history (including cell membrane association, interaction with proteins that post-translationally modify them, direct IGF-independent effects on cells, and others) and they are regulated by a diversity of 'outside' factors (e.g. other hormones, metabolic status, stress). Thus, IGFBPs are multifunctional integrators having diverse physiological 'agendas'. Much less is known about IGFBPs and their properties in the other vertebrate taxa. Increasingly, however, it is being recognized that they play equally important endocrine roles, in both conserved and non-conserved ways, when compared with those currently defined in mammals. This review highlights selected 'comparative aspects' in current IGFBP research, in an attempt to view this essential group of endocrine regulators from a wider, biological perspective.