• Title/Summary/Keyword: GHRH

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Induction of Growth Hormone Release by Glycyrrhizae Radix on Rat

  • Lee, Ho-Young;Jung, Dae-Young;Ha, Hye-Kyung;Kang, Sam-Sik;Kim, Ju-Sun;Kim, Chung-Sook
    • BMB Reports
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    • v.40 no.6
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    • pp.979-985
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    • 2007
  • Induction of growth hormone (GH) by Glycyrrhizae Radix (GR), one of the most popular herbal medicine, and its major ingredients were studied in rat pituitary cells in vitro and in vivo assay. The MeOH extract and the n-hexane (HX) fraction of GR induced rat GH (rGH) release up to 1.89 times ($0.34{\pm}0.04 nM$) and 4.59 times ($0.83{\pm}0.03 nM$), compared to the basal level (p < 0.05). Among many ingredients isolated and purified from GR both glycyrrhetinic acid and glycyrrhizin induced significantly rGH release compared to the control (p < 0.05). After an intravenous injection of rat growth hormone releasing hormone (rGHRH) ($10{\mu}g$/kg) as positive control, in SD rats, $T_{max}$ of plasma rGH level was 10 min, $C_{max}$ was $3.84{\pm}0.01 nM$ (n = 3), and enhanced plasma rGH level returned to the baseline in 90 min. Both $AUC_{0-90}$ (area under the curve) of plasma rGH level after HX fraction and that after rGHRH administration were increased significantly from the basal level, respectively (p < 0.01). In conclusions, HX fraction is the most active fraction of MeOH extract of GR in rGH induction.

Characterization of Growth Hormone Secretion to Growth Hormone releasing Peptide-2 in Domestic Animals - A Review

  • Roh, Sang-Gun;Lee, Hong-Gu;Phung, Long Thang;Hidari, Hisashi
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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    • v.15 no.5
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    • pp.757-766
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    • 2002
  • Growth hormone-releasing peptide-2 (GHRP-2, also named KP102) is a new hexapeptide of a series of synthetic growth hormone-releasing peptides (GHRPs) which stimulates the secretion of growth hormone (GH) in vitro and in vivo in several species including calf, sheep and pig. The GH-releasing activity of GHRP-2 is two to three times more effective than that of the original GHRP-6, and GHRP-1 in the rats and humans. To date, GHRP-2 seems to be the most potent member of the family of GHRPs. Since the GHRPs are short peptides (5-7 amino acid residues), they are synthesized easily and are not as readily degraded in plasma as GHreleasing hormone (GHRH). These features ameliorate their potential on domestic animals because of their chemical nature the GHRPs are efficacious when administered i.v. orally or orally. However, studies in cow, pig and sheep do not indicate such a close relationship between GHRH, somatostatin (SS) and GH, calling into question the general applicability of the human and rat models. Perhaps there is an important role for an endogenous GHRP in the regulation of GH secretion in domestic animals. This review provides an overview on the current knowledge of physiological role of GHRP-2 in domestic animals.

The Efficacy of Enhanced Growth by Ectopic Expression of Ghrelin and Its Variants Using Injectable Myogenic Vectors

  • Xie, Q.F.;Wu, C.X.;Meng, Q.Y.;Li, N.
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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    • v.17 no.1
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    • pp.146-152
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    • 2004
  • Ghrelin is an acylated peptide recently identified as the endogenous ligand for the growth hormone (GH) secretagogues receptor 1a (GHS-R1a) and is involved in a novel system for regulating GH release. To understand the long-term effects of ghrelin, here we constructed six myogenic expression vectors containing the cDNA of swine mature ghrelin (pGEM-wt-sGhln, pGEM-wt-hGhln), ghrelin mutant of $Ser^3$ with $Trp^3$ (pGEM-mt-sGhln, pGEM-mt-hGhln) and truncated ghrelin derivative (pGEM-tmtsGhln, pGEM-tmt-hGhln) encompassing the first 7 residues of ghrelin (including $Ser^3$ substituted with $Trp^3$) and adding a basic amino acid, Lys (K) in the C-terminus. The constructs, pGEM-wt-sGhln, pGEM-mt-sGhln and pGEM-tmt-sGhln were linked with the ghrelin leader sequence, while the pGEM-wt-hGhln, pGEM-mt-hGhln and pGEM-tmt-hGhln were linked with a leader sequence from the human growth hormone releasing hormone (hGHRH). Intramuscular injection of 200 ${\mu}g$ pGEM-wt-sGhln or pGEM-tmt-sGhln augmented growth over 3 weeks in normal rats and peaked at day 21 or 14 post-injection respectively, whose body weight gains were on average approximately 6% or 19% heavier over controls. However, other injectable vectors had no such enhanced growth effects. Our results suggested that the efficacy of the ghrelin leader sequence was more effective than that of hGHRH in our system. Moreover, the results indicated that skeletal muscle might have the ability to posttranslationally modify the in vivo expressed ghrelin. And the most strikingly, the short ghrelin analog seems to mimic the biological effects more efficiently when compared with the full-length ghrelin.

Somatotropic Axis and Nutrition in Young Ruminants around Weaning Time

  • Katoh, K.;Takahashi, T.;Kobayashi, Y.;Obara, Y.
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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    • v.20 no.7
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    • pp.1156-1168
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    • 2007
  • The somatotropic (GH-IGF-I) axis consists of many hormonal and nutritional factors that control GH release from the somatotrophs in the anterior pituitary. The GH-releasing substances are GHRH and GHS (GHRP or ghrelin), while the GH release-inhibiting substances are somatostatin (SRIF), insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), leptin and glucocorticoids. However, there is evidence showing that nutrition is involved in the control of the somatotropic axis. In addition, weaning is a drastic event for neonates because their alimentary and endocrine circumstances are changed due to the switch, even if gradual, from a liquid milk diet to one composed of such solids as hay and grains. The biological role of ghrelin is one of the hormonal factors that have been focused on ever since ghrelin was discovered at the end of the last century. A 27-amino acid peptide that is mainly synthesized and released from the abomasum epithelium, ghrelin has not been fully evaluated in relation to the somatotropic axis of the ruminant. It has also proven difficult even to investigate the cellular mechanisms of ghrelin action, because this hormone exerts animal-species-dependent actions via a complex set of intracellular signaling pathways. This is also the case for the action of leptin. Another substance, IGF-I, shows a partial inhibitory action on GH secretion in the ruminant. The effect of nutrition is also different among animal species. This is evident by the fact that undernutrition suppresses the circulating GH levels in rodents, but increases it in ruminants and humans. Recently, weaning has been shown to change the postprandial GH responses in ruminants; milk feeding increases, but hay and concentrate feeding suppress, the postprandial circulating GH levels. Even if the postprandial GH level is increased, the ghrelin level is decreased by milk feeding. Macronutrients also possess stimulatory and inhibitory actions on GH secretion in vivo and in vitro. These findings indicate the complexity of the control mechanisms of the somatotropic axis. In the present review, we summarize recent findings on the factors controlling the axis of the ruminant.

Discrepancy between in vitro and in vivo Effect of $G{\alpha}_s$ Gene Mutation on the mRNA Expression of TRH Receptor

  • Park, Seung-Joon;Yang, In-Myung;Yim, Sung-Vin;Chung, Joo-Ho;Jung, Jee-Chang;Ko, Kye-Chang;Kim, Young-Seol;Choi, Young-Kil
    • The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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    • v.2 no.1
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    • pp.101-108
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    • 1998
  • We investigated the effect of ${\alpha}-subunit$ of the stimulatory GTP-binding protein ($G{\alpha}_s$) gene mutation on the expression of the thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) receptor (TRH-R) gene in GH3 cells and in growth hormone (GH)-secreting adenomas of acromegalic patients. In the presence of cyclohexicmide, forskolin and isobutylmethylxanthine, cholera toxin, and GH-releasing hormone (GHRH) decreased rat TRH-R (rTRH-R) gene expression by about 39%, 43.7%, and 46.7%, respectively. Transient expression of a vector expressing mutant-type $G{\alpha}_s$ decreased the rTRH-R gene expression by about 50% at 24 h of transfection, whereas a wild-type $G{\alpha}_s$ expression vector did not. The transcript of human TRH-R (hTRH-R) gene was detected in 6 of 8 (75%) tumors. Three of them (50%) showed the paradoxical GH response to TRH and the other three patients did not show the response. The relative expression of hTRH-R mRNA in the tumors from patients with the paradoxical response of GH to TRH did not differ from that in the tumors from patients without the paradoxical response. Direct PCR sequencing of $G{\alpha}_s$ gene disclosed a mutant allele and a normal allele only at codon 201 in 4 of 8 tumors. The paradoxical response to TRH was observed in 2 of 4 patients without the mutation, and 2 of 4 patients with the mutation. The hTRH-R gene expression of pituitaty adenomsa did not differ between the tumors without the mutation and those with mutation. The present study suggests that the expression of TRH-R gene is not likely to be a main determinant for the paradoxical response of GH to TRH, and that $G{\alpha}_s$ mutation may suppress the gene expression of TRH-R in GH-secreting adenoma. However, a certain predisposing factor(s) may play an important role in determining the expression of TRH-R.

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