Pattern-dependent suppression of growth hormone (GH) pulsatility by ghrelin and GH-releasing peptide-6 in moderately GH-deficient rats

The peptide hormone ghrelin binds to the GH secretagogue receptor (GHS-R), stimulates GH secretion, and promotes adipogenesis. However, continuous GHS infusion does not stimulate skeletal growth and is associated with desensitization to further GH secretagogue treatment. In this study, 7-d intermittent (i.e. every 3 h) infusion of ghrelin, or the GH secretagogue, GH-releasing peptide-6, in the moderately GH- deficient transgenic growth-retarded rat, augmented GH secretion, leading to a sustained acceleration in skeletal growth. In contrast, continuous infusion of ghrelin, or GH-releasing peptide-6, suppressed the amplitude of spontaneous GH secretory episodes and produced only a transient increase in body weight gain. The reduction in GH secretion seen with continuous GHS-R activation was not associated with a desensitization of the pituitary to GH-releasing factor or to down-regulation of hypothalamic GHS-R mRNA expression. Continuous ghrelin treatment elicited an increase in somatostatin mRNA expression in the periventricular nuclei. Thus, exposure to continuously elevated circulating ghrelin may be responsible for the suppression of GH secretion reported in rats after prolonged starvation

Expression of hepatocyte nuclear factor 6 in rat liver is sex-dependent and regulated by growth hormone

Growth hormone (GH) binding to its receptor modulates gene transcription by influencing the amount or activity of transcription factors. In the rat, GH exerts sexually dimorphic effects on liver gene transcription through its pattern of secretion which is intermittent in males and continuous in females. The expression of the CYP2C12 gene coding for the female-specific cytochrome P450 2C12 protein is dependent on the continuous exposure to GH. To identify the transcription factor(s) that mediate(s) this sex-dependent GH effect, we studied the interactions of the CYP2C12 promoter with liver nuclear proteins obtained from male and female rats and from hypophysectomized animals treated or not by continuous GH infusion. GH treatment induced the binding of a protein that we identified as hepatocyte nuclear factor (HNF) 6, the prototype of a novel class of homeodomain transcription factors. HNF-6 competed with HNF-3 for binding to the same site in the CYP2C12 promoter. This HNF-6/HNF-3 binding site conveyed both HNF-6- and HNF-3-stimulated transcription of a reporter gene construct in transient cotransfection experiments. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays showed more HNF-6 DNA-binding activity in female than in male liver nuclear extracts. Liver HNF-6 mRNA was barely detectable in the hypophysectomized rats and was restored to normal levels by GH treatment. This work provides an example of a homeodomain-containing transcription factor that is GH-regulated and also reports on the hormonal regulation of HNF-6

LXR activation by GW3965 alters fat tissue distribution and adipose tissue inflammation in ob/ob female mice

To investigate the role of liver X receptor (LXR) in adipose tissue metabolism during obesity, ob/ob mice were treated for 5 weeks with the synthetic LXR agonist GW3965. MRI analysis revealed that pharmacological activation of LXR modified fat distribution by decreasing visceral (VS) fat and inversely increasing subcutaneous (SC) fat storage without affecting whole body fat content. This was concordant with opposite regulation by GW3965 of the lipolytic markers hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) and adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) in the two fat depots; moreover, the expression of genes involved in lipogenesis was significantly induced in SC fat. Lipidomic analysis suggested that changes in lipid composition in response to GW3965 also varied between VS and SC fat. In both depots, the observed alteration in lipid composition indicated an overall change toward less lipotoxic lipids. Flow cytometry analysis showed decreased immune cell infiltration in adipose tissue of ob/ob mice in response to GW3965 treatment, which in VS fat mainly affected the macrophage population and in SC fat the lymphocyte population. In line with this, the expression and secretion of proinflammatory markers was decreased in both fat deposits with GW3965 treatment