Bromocriptine alters hormone rhythms and lipid metabolism in swine

Hormones, metabolites and activities involved in lipid synthesis were assayed in pigs made leaner by bromocriptine treatment. Market size female swine were allowed free access to food under natural lighting conditions and implanted with bromocriptine pellets designed to release 10 mg/pig/day for 28 days in an effort to inhibit prolactin secretion. Between the 2nd and 3rd week of treatment, plasma samples were obtained from each group at 4-hour intervals throughout the day for assays of prolactin, cortisol, insulin, triglyceride, cholesterol and glucose concentrations. Twenty-eight or thirty days after the implantations, all animals were sacrificed for determinations of backfat thickness and insulin binding in the liver. At sacrifice, bromocriptine treatment reduced backfat thickness by 14% and insulin binding to partially purified hepatic membranes by 39% compared with control values. At 14 days following implantations, there were dramatic daily variations in plasma cortisol and prolactin levels in the control pigs and these rhythms were markedly altered in phase and amplitude in the bromocriptine-treated pigs. Bromocriptine reduced by 45, 20 and 13% the high levels of triglyceride, glucose, and cholesterol, respectively, that were found in control pigs near sunset. Plasma insulin concentrations did not vary during the day in control pigs and bromocriptine did not influence the insulin levels. The findings support important roles for a temporal synergism of cortisol and prolactin rhythms in maintaining hepatic lipogenic responsiveness to insulin. Bromocriptine treatment alters these hormonal relations and reduces lipid synthesis.