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Departments of Pediatrics, and Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University; and the Neuropeptide Physiology Laboratory, McGill University-Montreal Childrens Hospital Research Institute, Montreal, Québec, Canada H3H 1P3
Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Dr. Gloria S. Tannenbaum, Neuropeptide Physiology Laboratory, McGill University-Montreal Childrens Hospital Research Institute, 2300 Tupper Street, Montreal, Québec, Canada H3H 1P3. E-mail: mcta{at}musica.mcgill.ca
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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One such possible regulator is leptin, the recently discovered adipose cell hormone that is the protein product of the ob gene (6). Leptin is secreted from adipocytes and is thought to be a sensor of energy stores and to regulate appetite and metabolism at the level of the brain (7, 8). Indeed, blood concentrations of leptin increase during times of caloric repletion and decrease during fasting (9). Rapidly accumulating data have implicated leptin as a humoral link between nutrition and several neuroendocrine systems (10, 11, 12, 13).
The discovery of leptin receptor expression in the brain (14) lends credence to this hypothesis. In fact, receptors for leptin are abundantly expressed in those hypothalamic nuclei known to be involved in GH regulation, including the arcuate and periventricular nuclei (15, 16), and systemic injection of leptin induces Fos protein in the arcuate nucleus (17). Recent double labeling studies have shown the presence of leptin receptor immunoreactivity in arcuate GHRH-containing neurons (18). These observations suggest that leptin may serve as an important hormonal signal in the regulation of pulsatile GH secretion.
To test this hypothesis, we examined the effects of intracerebroventricular (icv) infusion of leptin on both spontaneous and GHRH-stimulated GH secretion in normal free-moving rats. Food intake, body weight, and plasma concentrations of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), insulin, and glucose were also monitored.
| Materials and Methods |
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In the first experiment, we documented the effects of icv infusion (67 days) of either leptin (n = 7) or PBS (n = 7) on spontaneous pulsatile GH release in free-moving rats. Blood samples (0.4 ml) were withdrawn every 15 min over a 6-h sampling period (10001600 h) from all animals. All blood samples were immediately centrifuged, and the plasma was separated and stored at -20 C for subsequent assay of GH, IGF-I, insulin and glucose. To avoid hemodynamic disturbance, the red blood cells were resuspended in normal saline and returned to the animal after removal of the next blood sample.
In the second experiment, we assessed the effects of centrally infused leptin (67 days) on GH responsiveness to GHRH. Free-moving, chronically cannulated rats, implanted with osmotic minipumps as described above, were administered 1 µg rat GRF-(129)NH2iv at two different time points during the 6-h sampling periods. The times of 1100 and 1300 h were chosen because these times reflect typical peak and trough periods of GH secretion, as previously documented (19, 21). The GHRH peptide (provided by Dr. P. Brazeau, Notre Dame Hospital, Montreal, Canada) was diluted in normal saline just before use. To document the rapidity of the GH response to GHRH, an additional blood sample was obtained 5 min after each injection of the peptide. All animal-based procedures were approved by the McGill University Animal Care Committee.
Hormone assays
Plasma GH concentrations were measured in duplicate by double
antibody RIA using materials supplied by the NIDDK Hormone Distribution
Program (Bethesda, MD). The averaged plasma GH values are reported in
terms of the rat GH reference preparation (rGH RP-2). The standard
curve was linear between 0.62320 ng/ml; the least detectable
concentration of plasma GH under the conditions used was 1.2 ng/ml. The
intra- and interassay coefficients of variation were 7.7% and 10.7%,
respectively, for duplicate samples of pooled plasma containing a mean
GH concentration of 60.7 ng/ml.
Plasma IGF-I concentrations were measured using a previously described method (22). To decrease the interference of IGF-binding proteins in the assay, the samples were prepared by acid-ethanol extraction followed by cryoprecipitation. The IGF-I/somatomedin C rabbit antiserum (UB3189) was obtained from the NIDDK Hormone Distribution Program (gift from Drs. L. Underwood and J. Van Wyk). Recombinant human IGF-I (Eli Lilly Co., Indianapolis, IN) was iodinated by the chloramine-T method. The averaged plasma IGF-I values are reported in terms of the recombinant human IGF-I reference preparation (Eli Lilly Co.). The standard curve was linear between 0.125 ng/ml. The intra- and interassay coefficients of variation were 4.8% and 14.8%, respectively, for duplicate samples of pooled plasma containing a mean IGF-I concentration of 0.82 ng/ml.
Plasma insulin was measured by a dextran-coated charcoal method using guinea pig antiporcine insulin serum (23). Purified crystalline rat insulin (lot 615-JE 6-9, Eli Lilly Co., provided by Dr. R. Chance) served as a reference standard. The sensitivity of the assay was 0.16 ng/ml, and the intra- and interassay coefficients of variation were 8.2% and 10.3%, respectively, for duplicate samples of pooled plasma containing a mean plasma insulin concentration of 5.68 ng/ml. Plasma glucose was measured by an automated glucose oxidase method (Glucose Analyzer 2, Beckman Instruments, Palo Alto, CA).
Statistical analyses
The plasma GH profiles of individual rats were analyzed using
the Cluster Analysis Program for endocrine pulse detection (24).
Briefly, a t statistic of 2.0 was selected to maintain a
maximal false positive rate of 2.5% or less, using test cluster sizes
of 2 in the prepeak nadir, peak, and postpeak nadir. Students
t tests for unpaired and paired data, as appropriate, were
used for statistical comparisons between and within experimental
groups. The integrated area under the GH response curve (AUC) was
calculated by the linear trapezoidal method. The results are expressed
as the mean ± SE. P < 0.05 was
considered significant.
| Results |
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38%) throughout the 7-day observation period compared with that in
PBS-treated controls (Fig. 1
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| Discussion |
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The present findings are congruent with accumulating data implicating leptin as a humoral link between nutrition and several endocrine systems, including the gonadal, adrenal, and thyroid axes (10, 11, 12). They are also in conformity with an earlier report in the rat demonstrating that icv administered leptin antiserum resulted in a decrease in spontaneous GH release (13) and with a recent study in pigs showing leptin stimulation of GH (25). Together these findings provide support for the thesis that leptin may be a critical hormonal signal of nutritional status to the GH neuroendocrine axis.
The dramatic enhancement of GH pulsatility observed in the present study (i.e. 2- to 3-fold above the normal high amplitude GH pulses of control rats) was all the more remarkable given the sustained anorexia induced by centrally administered leptin, since previous studies in the rat have consistently found GH to be markedly suppressed in nutritionally deprived states (1, 22, 23). If leptin is a stimulatory signal to the GH neuroendocrine axis, a fall in circulating leptin concentrations might translate into lower GH pulses. Indeed, the observation that blood levels of leptin are significantly decreased during fasting (10) is consistent with this idea.
The leptin-induced reductions in plasma concentrations of insulin, glucose, and IGF-I reported here are in agreement with the results of previous studies (26, 27). Although leptin may exert direct effects on one or more of these parameters (28), it is also possible that these responses are secondary to the reduction in food intake we observed, as plasma IGF-I, insulin, and glucose are known to be impaired in poorly nourished animals (10, 22, 23). On the other hand, as increases in GH levels are not normally seen in nutritionally deprived states in the rat, the increases in GH observed in these experiments are probably a result of the administered leptin rather than of changes in nutritional status.
The mechanism(s) by which leptin influences pulsatile GH secretion is of interest. Current experimental evidence indicates that the pulses of GH secretion are due to the episodic release of hypothalamic GHRH, whereas somatostatin (SRIF) is the physiological regulator of GH trough periods (29). The present finding of a 5-fold increase in GH nadir levels in leptin-infused animals suggests that SRIF may be involved in this response. Support for this concept was obtained in our GHRH challenge experiments; pretreatment with leptin reversed the weak GH response to GHRH observed in PBS-infused controls at GH trough times, the latter known to be due to antagonization by the increased cyclical release of endogenous SRIF (21). These results, therefore, suggest that the GH-releasing activity of leptin is mediated at least in part by inhibiting hypothalamic SRIF release into hypophyseal portal blood. This interpretation would be in keeping with the recent in vitro demonstration that leptin inhibits SRIF synthesis and secretion in cultured fetal rat neurons (30).
Furthermore, it is also possible that a reduction of SRIF tone within the hypothalamus contributed to the leptin-induced augmentation in GH pulse amplitude, as SRIF may directly regulate GHRH release at the level of the arcuate nucleus (29). Alternatively, GHRH secretion may be a target for regulation by leptin, because GHRH neurons harbor leptin receptors (18), and hypothalamic GHRH is altered both in response to fasting (31) and in the genetically obese Zucker rat (4, 32). Finally, the GH stimulatory actions of leptin may be mediated indirectly via interactions with other neuronal pathways known to be both responsive to leptin and to influence GH, such as the neuropeptide Y and CRH neuroendocrine systems (16, 33, 34). Additional studies will be required to identify the complete neuroendocrine pathways through which leptin stimulates GH secretion.
| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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2 Chercheur de Carrière of the Fonds de la Recherche en
Santé du Québec. ![]()
Received March 25, 1998.
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