Short-term long-acting gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist accelerates longitudinal growth in female rats during puberty / 中华内分泌代谢杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the possible mechanism of the effect of short-term gonadotropin-re-leasing hormone agonist(GnRHa)on linear growth in female pubertal rats. Methods Forty 3-week-old female rats were randomly divided into 5 groups(n=8 each). One group was sacrificed as base-line control. Group OVX was operated for ovariectomy at the beginning of experiment. Group Gn and group E2 each received two intramuscu-lar injections of 2.5mg·kg-1 triptorelin 2 weeks apart, and group E2 received additional daily 1μg·kg-1·d-1estradiol(E2)s. c. at three days after the second GnRHa injection for 11 days. Group Ctrl was sham-operated ascontrol. Each rat, except for the base-line control group. received 30mg/kg oxytetracycline s. c. and 20mg/kgcalcein s. c. 9 and 2 days respectively before sacrifice. Hepatic GH receptor mRNA, insulin-like growth factor(IGF)-I and IGF binding protein(IGFBP)-3, circulating IGF-I and IGFBP-3, local IGF-I/IGF-I receptor(IGF-IR)and proliferation rate(PFR)in epiphyseal growth plate(EGP)were evaluated after 4-week treatment.Results Similar to group OVX, the rats in group Gn became taller and heavier than group Ctrl with greater tibial length, wider EGP, greater longitudinal growth rate(LGR)and higher PFR(P<0.05 or P<0.01). Estrogen supplement reversed the effect of GnRHa. There was no statistical difference among the 4 groups regarding plasma IGF-I and IGFBP-3, hepatic IGF-I and IGFBP-3 mRNA levels, local IGF-I and IGF-I R levels in EGF. GnRHa down-regulated hepatic GHR mRNA expression, which was reversed by estrogen supplement. Conclusion GnRHa accelerates longitudinal growth of female pubertal rats. Estrogen deprivation contributes to GnRHa-induced alteration of linear growth in female rats, through improving PFR and suppressing the senescence of EGP. The underlying mechanism does not attribute to endocrine change of GH/IGF-I axis or local IGF-I/IGF-IR in EGP.