Endocrinology, Vol 132, 496-503, Copyright © 1993 by Endocrine Society

ARTICLES

Discordant, organ-specific regulation of insulin-like growth factor-I messenger ribonucleic acid in insulin-deficient diabetes in rats

VM Catanese, PJ Sciavolino and MN Lango
Department of Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York 10016.

Linear growth retardation is common in uncontrolled insulin-deficient diabetes, but individual organs such as kidney may hypertrophy. To explore whether this heterogeneity of response might be mediated by differential local insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) gene regulation, we injected rats with ip saline, 65, 120, or 175 mg/kg streptozotocin (STZ). Diabetics were untreated or received daily insulin. Animals were killed 24, 48, or 72 h after documentation of diabetes, and liver, kidney, and lung messenger RNA (mRNA) content analyzed by solution hybridization/RNase protection assay. Untreated diabetics had 10- to 100-fold reductions in hepatic IGF-I mRNA apparent as early as 24 h, and the magnitude of these changes varied directly with the severity of diabetes. In contrast, kidney IGF-I mRNA content increased by 400-500% at 24 h in untreated diabetics given 175 mg/kg STZ, and by 100-200% at 48 h in those given 120 mg/kg STZ, with return to control levels by 72 h. Renal IGF-I mRNA levels actually decreased by 250-350% at 24 h in rats injected with 65 mg/kg STZ, returning to supranormal values by 72 h. These results suggest that severity and/or duration of the metabolic abnormality qualitatively and quantitatively affect this response in the kidney. Liver and kidney IGF-I mRNA levels approached normal with insulin therapy and were similar to controls in rats which received STZ but did not develop diabetes. Lung IGF-I mRNA levels were minimally altered in all experimental groups. At the time point and STZ dosage at which liver IGF-I mRNA changes were most dramatic, little change in liver alpha-tubulin mRNA was noted. At the time point and STZ dosages at which kidney IGF-I mRNA induction was most dramatic, renal IGF-I receptor mRNA was only minimally changed, and renal alpha-tubulin mRNA was modestly reduced. In summary: 1) hepatic IGF-I mRNAs are dramatically reduced, and renal IGF-I mRNAs are significantly increased soon after the onset of insulin-deficient diabetes in STZ-treated rats; 2) insulin therapy restores IGF-I mRNA levels toward normal; and 3) these changes in IGF-I mRNA content are specific and are not the result of hepatic or renal STZ toxicity. These data suggest that IGF-I gene expression is regulated in a discordant, organ-specific manner in diabetes, and that metabolic factors in addition to GH may differentially modulate the endocrine and paracrine effects of IGF-I on growth.

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