Effect of administration frequency of growth hormone on longitudinal bone growth in the hypophysectomized rat

The effect of the administration frequency of growth hormone on longitudinal bone growth was investigated with tetracycline as intravital marker of the bone growth of the proximal tibia in hypophysectomized rats. The total dose of growth hormone (NIH-GH-B16) and the administration period were the same in all compared experiments. It was possible to achieve an optimum growth response for a certain total dose of growth hormone by increasing the injection frequency. The period of hormone administration was 10 or 5 days followed by a 10 days withdrawal period. When the growth hormone was administered alone or in association with L-thyroxine for 10 days, the optimum injection frequency for growth hormone was found to be 1 inj./day in hypophysectomized rats and 2 inj./day in thyroxine-treated hypophysectomized rats. When the administration period was 5 days for growth hormone given in association with L-thyroxine, the growth stimulation induced by one daily growth hormone injection was the same as that induced by two or four daily injections of the same total dose. An increase in the administration frequency for a total daily dose of thyroxine from 1 to 2 inj./day did not increase the longitudinal bone growth either when thyroxine was given alone or in association with growth hormone.