Studies on the mechanism of the antilipolytic effects of growth hormone

Ovine growth hormone (1 mug/ml) antagonized the lipolytic action of epinephrine (0.25 mug/ml) in segments of adipose tissue obtained from hypophysectomized rats, but a lag period of about 10 min was required. When added simultaneously with epinephrine, growth hormone neither reduced the maximal accumulation of cyclic AMP which occurred at 3 min nor accelerated the return to basal levels. Only when tissues were exposed to epinephrine 15 min after preincubation with growth hormone was cyclic AMP accumulation compromised. Growth hormone also produced a delayed increase of about 20% in the activity of a low Km cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase, which might have contributed to the decrease in cyclic AMP accumulation. The increase in phosphodiesterase activity probably did not account for the antilipolytic effect, however, since antilipolysis was evident before the increase in phosphodiesterase activity could be detected. The antilipolytic effects of growth hormone similarly could not be attributed to the decrease in cyclic AMP concentrations, for when added simultaneously with epinephrine the antilipolytic effects did not occur until after the evanescent changes in cyclic AMP had passed. Growth hormone added simultaneously with epinephrine or 30 min later significantly decreased the activity of protein kinase assayed in the absence of exogenous cyclic AMP, but did not change total protein kinase activity as measured in the presence of a saturating concentration of cyclic AMP. This effect of growth hormone was evident as early as 3 min after addition of the hormone and may at least partially account for the antilipolytic effect.