Lead attenuation of episodic growth hormone secretion in male rats

The purpose of this study was to characterize the effects of chronic lead exposure on growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor-1 status in growing male rats. Pituitary growth hormone content, episodic growth hormone release, plasma insulin-like growth factor-1 levels, and growth hormone response to exogenous growth hormone-releasing factor were quantified in young rats given lead nitrate. Twenty male Sprague-Dawley weanling rats were given lead nitrate (1000 ppm lead) in drinking water for a period of 6 weeks. Lead treatment significantly reduced body weight gain. Pituitary growth hormone content was not altered by lead treatment. Mean plasma growth hormone levels were reduced 44.6% by lead treatment (46.41 +/- 6.2 ng/ml; p = .003) as compared to controls (83.82 +/- 10 ng/ml). Lead treatment reduced mean growth hormone peak amplitude by 37.5%, mean nadir concentration by 60%, and growth hormone peak area by 35%. These findings are consistent with decreased hypothalamic growth hormone-releasing factor secretion or reduced somatotrope responsiveness. Exogenous growth hormone-releasing factor increased plasma growth hormone in lead-treated and control rats. However, this response was blunted by the lead treatment (lead treated: 485.6 +/- 57.8 vs. controls: 870.2 +/- 127 ng/ml; p = .03). Plasma insulin-like growth factor-1 concentration was not significantly affected by lead treatment. These results demonstrate that lead intoxication attenuates growth hormone release without abolishing the hypothalamic endocrine mechanisms driving growth hormone pulsatility. This suggests that lead acts at the level of the pituitary somatotroph rather than at the level of the hypothalamus.