• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.52 no.8
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• pp.922-929
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• 2009

Purpose : The aim was to investigate the clinical characteristics and responses to growth hormone (GH) therapy in children with attenuated growth who showed normal GH responses to GH stimulation tests (GHST). Methods : The study included 39 patients with height velocity (HV) of less than 4 cm/yr and normal GHST results. Clinical characteristics of patients were analyzed retrospectively. Results : Eleven were born as small for gestational age (SGA) and 28 as appropriate for age (AGA). In the SGA group, the standard deviation score (SDS) of age and height measured at their first visit was significantly low. Sixteen patients were treated with GH and six of 23 without GH therapy were followed for 1 year after GHST. The mean (range) of HV was 7.7 (4.9 to 11.1) cm/yr in patients with GH therapy and 3.7 (2.7 to 4.5) cm/yr in those without GH therapy, which was statistically significant (P<0.001). In the GH-treated group, HV and difference in height SDS during the treatment increased significantly (P<0.001; P< 0.001, respectively). HV increased after 1 year of GH therapy in the SGA and AGA groups (SGA, P=0.043; AGA, P=0.003). The level of Insulin-like growth factor-I was significantly lower in GH-treated patients with height SDS <-3 than those with ${\geq}3$ (P=0.023). Conclusion : In children with growth failure and normal GHST, HV increases significantly by short-term GH therapy. The assessment of long-term effects of GH therapy is necessary. Moreover, further studies should be considered to evaluate the GH-IGF-I axis due to the possibility of GH insensitivity syndrome.

• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.1016-1020
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• 2007

In this study, dioscin was isolated from Dioscoreae Rhizoma (DR), which is the rhizome of Dioscorea batatas DECNE. that inhabits broad areas of Korea and Japan. To determine whether dioscin induced growth hormone (GH) release, we evaluated its induction effects on GH release both in vitro and in vivo. The 70% methanol extract of DR, and its n-hexane and n-BuOH fractions, induced rat GH (rGH) release in rat pituitary cells 10-fold, 8-fold, and 5-fold higher than the control ($0.36{\pm}0.02 nM$), respectively (p < 0.05 each). The dioscin-induced rGH release of the cells was concentration-dependent and its $ED_{50}$ was $1.14{\times}10^{-5} M$. Within 90 minutes after intravenous administration of $10{\mu}g$/kg (p < 0.05 at $t_{max}$), dioscin caused the greatest increase in rGH concentration ($C_{max}$) in the rat plasma ($34.16{\pm}14.10 ng/ml$) (n = 4), which was twice as high as the control group ($12.88{\pm}3.29 ng/ml$) (n = 27).

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.367-370
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• 2007

Objective: Pituitary adenomas are common neurological lesions believed to account for 10% to 15% of all primary brain tumors. There can be diagnostic confusion due to discordance of the preoperative endocrine and the postoperative immunohistochemical diagnosis. In this study, the rate of discordance between preoperative and postoperative findings and their clinical implications were investigated. Methods: From March 2005 to March 2006, 26 patients who underwent surgery for a pituitary adenoma were enrolled in this study. The preoperative pituitary hormone level and postoperative immunohistochemical results were compared and analyzed. Results: The median age of the patients was 38 years [range 15-66 years]. The male to female ratio was 8 to 18. The endocrine evaluation showed 16 hormonally-active and 10 hormonally-inactive adenomas. The immunohistochemical findings showed : 13 prolactin-positive, 1 GH-positive, 1 FSH-positive, 8 pleurihormone-positive and 3 stain-negative adenomas. The percentage of discordance observed between the preoperative endocrine and postoperative immunohistochemical diagnosis was 54%. Nine of 10 endocrine non-functioning adenomas showed : 3 PRL positive, 1 GH positive, 2 PRL+GH positive, 1 TSH+FSH positive, 1 FSH+ACTH+PRL positive and 1 FSH+LH+PRL positive adenomas by immunohistochemistry. Three endocrine PRL+GH secreting adenomas showed 2 PRL positive and 1 FSH+GH positive by immunohistochemistry. One endocrine PRL secreting and 1 GH secreting adenoma showed 1 PRL+ TSH positive and 1 GH+PRL positive by immunohistochemistry, respectively. The diagnosis of the other 12 pituitary adenomas showed concordance. Conclusion : The results of this study showed 54% discordance rate between the preoperative endocrine and postoperative immunohistochemical diagnosis for pituitary adenomas.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.419-424
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• 1998

The present study was carried out to examine the efficiency of cloning of transgenic embryos by nuclear transfer(NT) using gene-injected rabbit embryos. The rabbit embryos at pronuclear stage were microinjected with methallothionein-human growth hormone(MT-hGH) gene and cultured to 8- and 16-cell in TCM-199 containing 10% FCS with a monolayer of rabbit oviductal epithelial cells in a 5% $CO_2$incubator. The recipient oocytes were collected from the oviducts 14~16 h after hCG injection. The oocytes were enucleated and activated with 5$\mu$M ionomycin and 2mM 6-dimethylaminopurine. Blastomeres form gene-injected embryos were transferred into the enucleated oocytes by micromanipulation. The nuclear transplant oocytes were electrofused and co-cultured with rabbit oviductal cells. Following 120 h of culture, blastocysts were prepared for gene analysis by polymerase chain reaction(PCR). In previous experiment, the rate of gene-positive embryos detected by the nested PCR analysis was significantly decreased while developing to blastocyst(25%)(Kang et al., 1998). The fusion rate of gene-injected blastomeres was significantly(P＜0.05) lower than non-injected blastomeres(66% vs 80%). However, the NT embryos that were derived from gene-injected donor embryos did not differ from control embryos in development to the blastocyst stage(39% vs 31%). Of the 43 NT blastocysts developed from the gene-injected donor embryos, twelve(28%) were positive for the injected DNA. The results indicate that NT with gene-injected embryos can be successfully used for cloning and multiplication of transgenic embryos, furthermore applicable to improvement of transgenic animal production.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.1473-1478
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• 2008

An experiment was conducted to investigate the mechanism for the effect of tetrabasic zinc chloride (TBZC) in enhancing growth performance of weanling piglets. Gut-brain peptides play an important role in the regulation of growth and appetite in animals. This study evaluated the effects of TBZC on blood concentrations of growth hormone (GH), ghrelin, insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), cholecystokinin (CCK) and neuropeptide Y (NPY). Seventy-two weanling piglets (Landrace$\times$Large White) with an initial body weight (BW) of $6.7{\pm}0.16kg$ and aged $24{\pm}1days$ were assigned to three dietary treatments: i) control diet without TBZC supplement, ii) the control diet supplemented with 2,000 mg Zn from TBZC/kg and iii) TBZC-supplemented diet pair-fed with respect to the control diet. Each treatment had six replications (pens) of four piglets. At the end of a 14-d experimental period, piglets were weighed and feed consumption was measured, and blood samples were collected for assays of GH, ghrelin, IGF-I, CCK and NPY concentrations. The inclusion of TBZC in the diet increased average daily gain (p<0.01), average daily feed intake (p<0.05), and feed conversion ratio (p<0.05). Pair-fed piglets had higher ADG, and lower FCR than (p<0.05) Control piglets. Supplementation of the diet with TBZC increased (p<0.05) serum GH and plasma ghrelin levels in weanling piglets, but did not affect (p>0.05) serum IGF-I and plasma NPY and CCK concentrations. Pair-fed piglets had lower (p<0.05) serum GH levels than TBZC-supplemented piglets, but did not (p>0.05) differ from Control piglets. These data indicated that TBZC elevated the concentration of ghrelin and GH. This observation may partly explain the beneficial effects of TBZC on growth performance of weanling piglets.

• Journal of Aquaculture
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.110-117
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• 2003

We have cloned and sequenced the cDNA encoding growth hormone (GH) from pituitary poly(A)$^{+}$ RNA of red-spotted grouper (Epinephelus akaara). The cDNA of red-spotted grouper GH is 883 base pairs (bp) consisting of 21 bp of 5'untranslated region (UTR), 615 Up of an open reading frame (ORF) and 247 Up of 3'UTR. The polyadenylation signal, AATAAA, was 20 bp upsteam of polyadenylation site. Based on the nucleotide sequences, the deduced putative polypeptide contains 204 amino acids (aa), representing 17 aa of a signal and 187 aa of a mature polypeptide. The putative GH cDNA encodes a polypeptide with four cysteine residues and only one N-gly- cosylation site. Comparative sequence alignment shows that red-spotted grouper GH exhibits high similarity with its corresponding other Perciformes species GH cDNAs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.1055-1062
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• 2012

Two SNPs, i.e. L127V and T172M, of bovine growth hormone (GH) causing the presence of GH gene haplotypes A, B, and C was previously shown to alter intramuscular fatty acid (FA) composition in Japanese Black (JB) heifers. To determine the SNP effect on somatotropic hormone concentration and lipogenesis, we measured plasma GH, insulin, and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) concentrations. We also measured mRNA levels of fatty acid synthase (FASN), stearoyl-coA desaturase (SCD), and sterol regulatory element binding proteins-1 (SREBP-1) and FA composition in diaphragm tissues. Heifers with genotype CC had the lowest plasma insulin concentration and FASN and SCD mRNA levels among genotypes. FASN mRNA levels in haplotype A tended to positively correlate with saturated FA (SFA) content and negatively correlated with C18:2 and unsaturated FA (USFA) contents. SCD mRNA levels in haplotype A positively correlated with monounsaturated FA (MUFA) contents and negatively correlated with C18:0 content. They also tended to positively correlate with C16:1, C18:1, and USFA contents and USFA/SFA ratio and negatively correlate with SFA content. Taken together, GH gene polymorphism affects the lipogenic genes expression levels and their relationships with fatty acid compositions in diaphragm tissues of JB heifers at 31 months of age.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.235-243
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• 2019

A special eosinophilic agarase exo-type ${\beta}$-agarase gene, AgaDL6, was cloned from a marine agar-degrading bacterium, Flammeovirga sp. HQM9. The gene comprised 1,383-bp nucleotides encoding a putative agarase AgaDL6 of 461 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of 52.8 kDa. Sequence analysis revealed a ${\beta}$-agarase domain that belongs to the glycoside hydrolase family (GH) 16 and a carbohydrate-binding module (CBM_4_9) unique to agarases. AgaDL6 was heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). Enzyme activity analysis of the purified protein showed that the optimal temperature and pH of AgaDL6 were $50^{\circ}C$ and 3.0, respectively. AgaDL6 showed thermal stability by retaining more than 98% of activity after incubation for 2 h at $50^{\circ}C$, a feature quite different from other agarases. AgaDL6 also exhibited outstanding acid stability, retaining 100% of activity after incubation for 24 h at pH 2.0 to 5.0, a property distinct from other agarases. This is the first agarase characterized to have such high acid stability. In addition, we observed no obvious stimulation or inhibition of AgaDL6 in the presence of various metal ions and denaturants. AgaDL6 is an exo-type ${\beta}$-1,4 agarase that cleaved agarose into neoagarotetraose and neoagarohexaose as the final products. These characteristics make AgaDL6 a potentially valuable enzyme in the cosmetic, food, and pharmaceutical industries.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.1-18
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• 2008

Objectives: Galgeunhaegitang-gamibang(GH) and Samhwangseze-gamibang(SG) has been known that they are helpful for treatment of atopic dermititis clinically, but there is no report about the effect of GH and SG. So, author aimed to investigate the effects of GH and SG on atopic dermititis of NC/Nga mice. Methods : NC/Nga mice were divide into three group : normal, control, and experimental group. Atopic dermatitis was induced in the control and experimental group by spreading DNCB. Then GH was orally administered three times in a week for 8 weeks to the experimental group and SG was spreaded two times in a day for 8 weeks to the experimental group, while the control group was given normal saline. We observed changes of clinical skin severity score, serum IgE, IL-4, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IgM, IgGl, $IFN-{\gamma}$ and so on. We used one-way ANOVA test statistically(p<0.01). Results : Clinical skin severities of experiment group in 13 and 16weeks were significantly decreased by 48% and 55% compared to the control group. Serum IgE, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IgM, IgGl levels of experimental group were singnificantly decreased compared to the control group. Serum $IFN-{\gamma}$ level of the experimental group was significantly increased against control group. mRNA expression levels of IL-4, IL-5, IL-6 and CCR3 in the skin tissues of experimental group were significantly decreased compared to the control group. In contrary, $IFN-{\gamma}$y mRNA expression level were increased compared to the control group. Histological observation of the ear and skin tissues showed that the extents of inflammation and infiltrated immune cells in the epidermis and dermis of experimental group were highly deminished compared to the control group. Judging from that $IL-1{\beta}$, $TNF-{\alpha}$, IL-6 expression of gene, the effects of inflammatory cytokine revelation were significantly decreased compared to the control group. In the model inducing COX-2 activity in RAW 264.7 cell, COX-2 activity was significantly inhibited depending on the density of GH compared to the control serum. According to cell multiplication, examination of cell toxicity showed that GH is safe at the density of 10, 50, 100mg/l and even 1000mg/l. Conclusion : Accordin to the above results, it is considered that GH and SG is effective treatment for the atopic dermatitis.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.363-369
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• 2003

Purpose : Pharmacologic provocation test of growth hormone(GH) is a non-physiologic method and has several limitations for diagnosing growth hormone(GH) deficiency. Spontaneous GH release studies could be important in understanding the pathophysiology of children with poor growth but normal responses to GH provocation tests. Also, the relationship between nocturnal GH secretions and sleep patterns in short stature children is poorly understood. The aim of this study is to determine whether there are differences in sleep patterns and nocturnal GH secretory profiles between idiopathic short stature children and a normal stature group. Methods : Spontaneous nocturnal GH secretions and sleep patterns were evaluated in 12 prepubertal idiopathic short stature children with normal responses to provocation tests and 9 normal stature controls. Blood samples were taken every 30 minutes from 22:00-06:30 and sleep patterns were analyzed by polysomnography. Results : The mean GH level during sleep was significantly lower in short stature children than in controls. The peak GH level after sleep, coincident with the first slow wave sleep, was lower in the short stature group. The slow wave sleep times of short stature children were decreased compared with those of normal subjects. Conclusion : These results suggest that overnight serial GH sampling is helpful to identify short stature children with subnormal GH secretions, and sleep structure differences may be associated with decreased overnight GH secretions in short stature children.