Abstract

GH enhances skeletal muscle growth, and IGF-II peptide is highly expressed during regeneration. We have therefore investigated the effect of GH administration on IGF-II binding and expression in regenerating rat skeletal muscle using the techniques of receptor autoradiography and in situ hybridisation. Notexin, a myotoxin, was injected into the right M. biceps femoris (day 0), causing affected fibres to undergo necrosis followed by rapid regeneration. Animals were administered either GH (200 μg/100 g body weight) or saline vehicle daily. Contralateral muscles were used as regeneration controls. GH administration during regeneration resulted in significant increases in body weight, and damaged and undamaged muscle weights (P<0·001). IGF-II expression, which was examined in regenerating fibres, survivor fibres and undamaged fibres, varied according to tissue type (P< 0·001). Specifically, IGF-II expression in regenerating fibres was elevated relative to control and survivor fibres after day 3 (P<0·05), with a peak on day 9 (P<0·001). GH did not affect IGF-II message levels. ¹²⁵I-IGF-II binding in regenerating muscle was examined in the same fibre types as well as in connective tissue. ¹²⁵I-IGF-II binding in regenerating fibres was higher (P<0·001) than in other tissue types on day 5. GH administration increased ¹²⁵I-IGF-II binding in all damaged muscle tissues on day 5 (P<0·001, regenerating fibres; P<0·01, others). We believe that this shows for the first time an effect of GH on the Type 2 IGF receptor in regenerating skeletal muscle.

Journal of Endocrinology (1996) 149, 81–91

Abstract

The relative abundance and location of type 1 IGF receptors in sheep muscles have been measured to determine whether changes occur during post-natal growth and nutritional stress. Using the technique of histological autoradiography, specific binding of ¹²⁵I-IGF-I in muscle fibre and connective tissue of M. biceps femoris and M. gastrocnemius was demonstrated, as was specific binding to the tendon of M. gastrocnemius and the surrounding connective tissue. The binding site in both muscles was characterised as the type 1 IGF receptor in membrane preparations using competitive binding assay and SDS-PAGE.

Type 1 receptors were more abundant in connective tissue than muscle fibre or tendon (P≤0·001). Levels changed significantly with age in all tissues (P=0·054 to P≤ 0·001), while change as a result of fasting was limited to a receptor increase in the connective tissue of M. gastrocnemius (P=0·034). IGF-I mRNA in M. bicepsfemoris, as assessed by in situ hybridisation, showed changes in expression with increasing age (P≤ 0·025) but no change with fasting.

These data indicate that the distribution, relative abundance and nutritional sensitivity of type 1 receptors are related to cell type in vivo. The overall decline of receptors with increasing age may be a feature of transition from linear animal growth to cell maintenance in adult animals. Connective tissue appears to be more sensitive than muscle fibre to nutrition, possibly allowing the reduction of non-essential metabolism during fasting.

Journal of Endocrinology (1996) 148, 337–346

Olfaction plays an important role in sexual maturation and behaviour in the animal kingdom. Evidence that it has the same importance in man is far less convincing and frequently dogged by such anecdotes as the role of pheromones in synchronizing menstrual cyclicity in convents and all-girl schools. Sexual immaturity and defective olfaction do however coexist as an inherited disorder in man (Kallmann's syndrome: Kallmann, Schoenfeld & Barrera, 1944; DeMorsier, 1954; White, Rogol, Brown et al. 1983; Hermanussen & Sippell, 1985; Chaussain, Toublanc, Feingold et al. 1988) and for many years the biological basis of these defects remained enigmatic. Recently, the interrelationship between sexual development and absence of olfaction has been clarified in three mammals: mouse, macaque and man.

The translocator protein (TSPO), formerly known as a peripheral benzodiazepine receptor, exerts pro-apoptotic function via regulation of mitochondrial membrane potential. We examined TSPO expression in human thyroid tumors (25 follicular adenomas (FA), 15 follicular cancers (FC), and 70 papillary cancers (PC)). The role of TSPO in the regulation of cell growth, migration, and apoptosis was examined in thyroid cancer cell lines after TSPO knockdown with siRNA and after treatment with TSPO antagonist (PK11195). Compared with normal thyroid, the level of TSPO expression was increased in FA, FC, and PC in 24, 26.6, and 55.7% of cases respectively. Thyroid cancer cell lines demonstrated variable levels of TSPO expression, without specific association with thyroid oncogene mutations. Treatment with inhibitors of PI3K/AKT or MEK/ERK signaling was not associated with changes in TSPO expression. Treatment with histone deacetylase inhibitor (valproic acid) increased TSPO expression in TSPO-deficient cell lines (FTC236 cells). TSPO gene silencing or treatment with PK11195 did not affect thyroid cancer cell growth and migration but prevented depolarization of mitochondrial membranes induced by oxidative stress. Induction of TSPO expression by valproic acid was associated with increased sensitivity of FTC236 to oxidative stress-inducible apoptosis. Overall, we showed that TSPO expression is frequently increased in PC. In vitro data suggested the role of epigenetic mechanism(s) in the regulation of TSPO in thyroid cells. Implication of TSPO in the thyroid cancer cell response to oxidative stress suggested its potential role in the regulation of thyroid cancer cell response to treatment with radioiodine and warrants further investigation.

ABSTRACT

Tissue and plasma levels of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), and relative levels of liver IGF-I RNA, were measured in 6-month-old ewe lambs which were well fed (n = 10) or starved (n = 10) for 5 days. Half of each nutrition group was given daily (09.00 h) injections of human GH (hGH; 0·15 mg/kg body weight per day). Blood was sampled daily from 09.00 to 12.00 h at 15-min intervals through jugular vein catheters and the lambs were slaughtered 24 h after the fifth injection of hGH.

Tissue and plasma IGF-I was extracted using an acid-ethanol-cryo-precipitation technique and estimated by radioimmunoassay. Tissue IGF-I was corrected for retained plasma IGF-I using tissue and blood haemaglobin levels. Liver IGF-I RNA levels were monitored by in-situ hybridization.

Plasma IGF-I (nmol/l) was higher in both the fed group and the fed group given GH treatment. Tissue IGF-I from kidneys (nmol/kg) was also higher (P < 0·001) in the fed group. There was no significant difference in IGF-I concentrations in the muscle biceps femoris or liver between fed and starved lambs. Although GH treatment did not increase IGF-I levels in tissues significantly, IGF-I RNA levels in liver were increased (P = 0·02) in both fed and starved animals. The relative liver IGF-I RNA levels positively correlated with their corresponding tissue IGF-I levels in the fed group and the fed group given GH treatment. The lack of a significant IGF-I response to GH in tissues may be due to either the time at which tissues were sampled after the GH treatment or the dose of GH administered. However, the higher IGF-I concentrations in plasma and kidney from fed compared with starved animals and the positive correlations between liver IGF-I and IGF-I RNA levels suggest that tissue and plasma IGF-I is regulated by nutrition and GH, with nutrition playing a critical role in the regulation of tissue and plasma IGF-I in normal lambs.

Journal of Endocrinology (1993) 136, 217–224

Early life vitamin D plays a prominent role in neurodevelopment and subsequent brain function, including schizophrenic-like outcomes and increasing evidence for an association with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Here, we investigate how early life vitamin D deficiency during rat pregnancy and lactation alters maternal care and influences neurodevelopment and affective, cognitive and social behaviours in male adult offspring. Sprague–Dawley rats were placed on either a vitamin D control (2195 IU/kg) or deficient diet (0 IU/kg) for five weeks before timed mating, and diet exposure was maintained until weaning of offspring on postnatal day (PND) 23. MRI scans were conducted to assess brain morphology, and plasma corticosterone levels and neural expression of genes associated with language, dopamine and glucocorticoid exposure were characterised at PND1, PND12 and 4 months of age. Compared to controls, vitamin D-deficient dams exhibited decreased licking and grooming of their pups but no differences in pup retrieval. Offspring neurodevelopmental markers were unaltered, but vitamin D-deficient pup ultrasonic vocalisations were atypical. As adults, males that had been exposed to vitamin D deficiency in early life exhibited decreased social behaviour, impaired learning and memory outcomes and increased grooming behaviour, but unaltered affective behaviours. Accompanying these behavioural changes was an increase in lateral ventricle volume, decreased cortical FOXP2 (a protein implicated in language and communication) and altered neural expression of genes involved in dopamine and glucocorticoid-related pathways. These data highlight that early life levels of vitamin D are an important consideration for maternal behavioural adaptations as well as offspring neuropsychiatry.

ABSTRACT

Some, though not all, previous studies have suggested that the inositol lipid which is hydrolysed during transmembrane signalling in response to receptor activation might be drawn from a metabolically discrete and relatively small hormone-sensitive lipid pool that turns over more rapidly than the bulk of membrane inositol lipid. In order to seek evidence for the existence of this putative hormone-sensitive lipid pool, we have double-labelled cells by growing them for 3 days in a medium containing [¹⁴C]inositol and then supplying them with [³H]inositol for the final 2 h before stimulation. We anticipated that stimulation of these doubly labelled cells might provoke the formation, from the postulated hormone-sensitive pool, of small quantities of relatively ³H-enriched inositol phosphates, and that these could be harvested from cells (provided that the cytosolic inositol monophosphatase and inositol 1,4-bisphosphate/inositol 1,3,4-trisphosphate 1-phosphatase activities are first inhibited by Li⁺). Experiments of this type, using both vasopressin-stimulated WRK1 rat mammary tumour cells and 3T3 mouse fibroblasts stimulated by prostaglandin F_2α, have largely failed to demonstrate the formation of relatively ³H-enriched inositol phosphates. There was a tendency for phosphatidyl-inositol 4-phosphate and phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate to have slightly higher ³H: ¹⁴C ratios than phosphatidylinositol, but the ³H: ¹⁴C ratios of the inositol phosphates formed in stimulated cells were not substantially greater than the ³H: ¹⁴C ratios of the inositol lipids. We therefore conclude, at least for the two cell lines that we studied, that hormone-stimulated inositol lipid hydrolysis can call, either directly or indirectly, upon the majority of the inositol lipid complement of the stimulated cell.

Journal of Endocrinology (1989) 122, 379–389

ABSTRACT

The GH response to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia and growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) has been shown to be impaired in subjects with Cushing's syndrome and in healthy volunteers given oral glucocorticoids. Pyridostigmine is an anticholinesterase that stimulates GH secretion, probably by inhibition of hypothalamic somatostatin secretion. This work was designed to study the site of action of glucocorticoids in inhibiting the secretion of GH.

Eight healthy male volunteers were studied on three occasions in random order. They took 2 mg oral dexamethasone or placebo at precisely 6-hourly intervals for 48 h before receiving 120 mg oral pyridostigmine or placebo, followed 60 min later by GHRH (100 μg) i.v. Samples for measuring GH were obtained at 15 min intervals for 2 h.

The 'area under the curve' (AUC) for each of the treatments was significantly different: dexamethasone–pyridostigmine–GHRH (mean ± s.e.m., 1938 ± 631 mU/min per 1), dexamethasone–placebo–GHRH (634 ±211) and placebo–placebo–GHRH (4267 ± 1183) (P<0·02, Wilcoxon test).

In conclusion, dexamethasone given for 48 h significantly inhibited the AUC for GH following treatment with GHRH. However, pretreatment with pyridostigmine significantly reversed the inhibition although this was still partial. Our data suggested that this short-term suppressive effect of dexamethasone was independent of GHRH, and most probably relates to stimulation of the release of somatostatin.

Journal of Endocrinology (1992) 134, 513–517