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Cardiac resistance to growth hormone in uremia

Zhilan Zheng1, Di Fei Sun, Padmaja Tummala

  • 1Research Service, Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System and Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California 94304, USA.

Kidney International
|February 9, 2005
PubMed

Insights

Chronic renal failure (CRF) in rats causes cardiac resistance to growth hormone due to impaired signaling. This growth hormone resistance may contribute to the cardiomyopathy seen in uremia.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiovascular Science
  • Endocrinology
  • Nephrology

Background:

  • Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death in end-stage renal disease (ESRD).
  • Growth hormone (GH) is crucial for maintaining cardiac structure and function, and it aids in cardiac remodeling during disease.
  • Cardiac resistance to GH in chronic renal failure (CRF) may predispose individuals to uremic cardiomyopathy.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether CRF induces cardiac resistance to the effects of growth hormone.
  • To determine if altered growth hormone signaling pathways contribute to this resistance in CRF.

Main Methods:

  • Used growth hormone-deficient (dw/dw) rats and growth hormone-intact Sprague-Dawley rats.
  • Performed subtotal nephrectomy or sham operations, followed by pair feeding.
  • Administered growth hormone and assessed insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) mRNA levels and Janus kinase-signal transducers and activators of transcription (JAK2-STAT5) signaling.

Main Results:

  • In CRF rats, the increase in IGF-1 mRNA in response to GH was attenuated.
  • GH-induced JAK2, GHR, and STAT5 tyrosine phosphorylation was significantly depressed in CRF.
  • Impaired phosphorylation and nuclear translocation of STAT5 were observed in uremic rats, indicating a postreceptor defect in GH signaling.

Conclusions:

  • Uremic rats exhibit cardiac resistance to growth hormone, at least partly due to a postreceptor defect in GH-induced signaling.
  • Impaired STAT5 phosphorylation and nuclear translocation characterize this GH resistance in uremia.
  • These findings suggest that growth hormone resistance may play a role in the cardiac complications associated with uremia.
Abstract

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