Back to Search
Start Over
Manipulation of adult body composition by treatment of the neonatal rat with growth hormone and prolactin.
- Source :
-
Growth regulation [Growth Regul] 1996 Dec; Vol. 6 (4), pp. 201-5. - Publication Year :
- 1996
-
Abstract
- Previous studies involving fetal decapitation or hypophysectomy, and the treatment of neonates with hormones or antibodies, have suggested that changes in pituitary hormone status during the perinatal period may influence later body composition. In the present study, rats were treated for the first 21 days of life with twice daily subcutaneous injections of saline, recombinant bovine growth hormone (bGH) or pituitary ovine prolactin (oPRL). The bGH and oPRL were administered at doses of 0.2 or 0.4 microgram/g bodyweight/day. One-third of the rats in each treatment group were slaughtered at each of days 21, 60 and 120 of life and measurements made of: length and weight of the body; weights of bones and muscle groups in the hindlimb; weights of four fat depots (120-day group only); and the content of nitrogen (N) and fat in the carcass. bGH, but not oPRL, treatment increased weight of the femur and humerus (across ages) but neither treatment had marked effects on weights of muscle groups, carcass weight or carcass N content at any age. Both bGH and oPRL treatment significantly reduced weight of the subcutaneous scapular fat depot and reduced carcass fat content, but only in animals aged 120 days (i.e. 99 days after the cessation of treatment). It is concluded that treatment of rats with bGH and oPRL during the immediate postnatal period specifically retards the ability of animals to deposit body fat in later life by mechanisms which differ from those involved in the classical lipolytic/antilipogenic effects of bGH.
- Subjects :
- Adipose Tissue diagnostic imaging
Adipose Tissue drug effects
Adipose Tissue growth & development
Animals
Body Weight drug effects
Female
Male
Muscle Development
Muscle, Skeletal anatomy & histology
Muscle, Skeletal drug effects
Muscle, Skeletal growth & development
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Ultrasonography
Animals, Newborn physiology
Body Composition drug effects
Growth Hormone pharmacology
Prolactin pharmacology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0956-523X
- Volume :
- 6
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Growth regulation
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 8971548