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Growth hormone and aging change rat liver fatty acid binding protein levels
S S Singer1, K Henkels, A Deucher
1Department of Chemistry, University of Dayton, Ohio 45428, USA.
Objective:
Rat liver fatty acid binding protein (FABP) is believed relevant to understanding of homeostasis in lipid metabolism and lipid related diseases. Relatively little is known about endocrine control of FABP production. Thus, we examined endocrine effects on its hepatic content.
Methods/Results:
Hypophysectomy of 300-325 g males caused statistically significant drops of FABP levels averaging 62.2% and 67.0%, expressed g/liver or 100 g/body weight, 30-52 days after surgery. Cortisol administration (3.8 mg/kg, daily, 32-36 days) did not significantly alter this effect of hypophysectomy. Recombinant human growth hormone (GH, 2.0 U/kg, b.i.d, 17-20 days) greatly decreased the effect of hypophysectomy on FABP but had no effect in intact males. Supporting the control of FABP content by GH, FABP levels decreased significantly in 12-13 and 16-22 month old males, but not in growing, 4-6 or 10-11 month old males. FABP levels in 12-13.5 month old females also dropped significantly compared to 4-6 month old females.
Discussion:
The importance of the data to metabolism, growth, and aging is discussed.