Short-term growth hormone or IGF-I administration improves the IGF-IGFBP system in arthritic rats.

OBJECTIVE: Adjuvant-induced arthritis is an experimental model of rheumatoid arthritis that inhibits the GH-IGF-I axis and decreases body weight gain and muscle mass. Although chronic GH or IGF-I treatment increases body weight gain in arthritic rats, muscle resistance to GH and IGF-I is a very common complication in inflammatory diseases. In this study we examine the effect of short-term administration of rhGH and rhIGF-I on liver and muscle IGF-I, IGFBP-3 and -5 as well as on the ubiquitin-ligases MuRF1 and atrogin-1 in the muscle of arthritic rats. DESIGN: Arthritis was induced in adult male Wistar rats by an intradermal injection of 4 mg of Freund's adjuvant. Fifteen days after adjuvant injection, 300 µg/kg of rhGH or 200 µg/kg of rhIGF or saline was administrated 18 and 3h before decapitation. A pair-fed group injected with saline was included in order to discard a possible effect of decreased food intake. Gene expression of IGF-I, GHR, IGFBP-3, IGFBP-5, atrogin-1 and MuRF1 were quantified using RT-PCR. In serum, IGF-I was measured by radioimmunoassay (RIA) and IGFBP-3 by ligand blot. RESULTS: Arthritis decreased serum IGF-I and IGF mRNA in liver (P<0.05), but not in skeletal muscle. In arthritic rats, rhGH increased serum IGF-I and liver IGF-I mRNA similar to the levels of pair-fed rats. Arthritis increased atrogin-1, MuRF1, IGFBP-3 and IGFBP-5 mRNA in muscle (P<0.01). IGFBP-3 mRNA was downregulated by rhIGF-I, but not by rhGH, administration in control and arthritic rats (P<0.05). Administration of rhGH and rhIGF-I increased IGFBP-5 in the gastrocnemius of arthritic rats. CONCLUSIONS: Short-term rhGH and rhIGF-I administration was found to increase muscle IGFBP-5 mRNA, whereas only rhIGF-I administration decreased muscle IGFBP-3 mRNA in control and arthritic rats. These data suggest that arthritis does not induce GH or IGF-I resistance in skeletal muscle.

Effect of cyclooxygenase-2 inhibition by meloxicam, on atrogin-1 and myogenic regulatory factors in skeletal muscle of rats injected with endotoxin.

Cyclooxygenase-2-induction by inflammatory stimuli has been proposed as a mediator of inflammatory cachexia. We analyse whether cyclooxygenase-2 inhibition by meloxicam administration is able to modify the response of skeletal muscle to inflammation induced by lipopolysaccharide endotoxin (LPS). Male rats were injected with 1 mg kg(-1) LPS at 17:00 h and at 10:00 h the following day, and euthanized 4, 24 or 72 hours later. Atrogin-1, MuRF1, myogenic regulatory factors and cyclooxygenase-2 in the gastrocnemius were determined by real time-PCR (mRNA) and Western blot (protein). In a second experiment the effect of meloxicam administration (1 mg kg⁻¹) was analyzed. Meloxicam was administered either in a preventive manner, 1 hour before each endotoxin injection, or in a therapeutic manner, starting 2 hours after the second LPS injection and at 24 and 48 hours afterwards. There was a marked increase in MuRF1 mRNA (P<0.01) 4 hours after LPS, and in atrogin-1 mRNA 4 hours (P<0.01) and 24 hours (P<0.01) after LPS. Cyclooxygenase-2 was increased, whereas MyoD was decreased at 4, 24 and 72 h. Both types of meloxicam treatment blocked LPS-induced increase in atrogin-1. Preventive, but not therapeutic, meloxicam decreased myostatin (P<0.01) and increased Pax7 (P<0.01) and MyoD (P<0.05). Therapeutic meloxicam treatment decreased gastrocnemius myogenin. These data suggest that cyclooxygenase-2 inhibition by meloxicam administration can prevent the increase in atrogin-1 and the decrease in MyoD induced by LPS administration. However, prolonged therapeutic meloxicam treatment seems to be less effective, since it can inhibit myogenic regulatory factors.

Cyclooxygenase-2 [corrected] activation by endotoxin mediates the decrease in IGF1, but not in IGFBP3, [corrected] gene expression in the liver.

The aim of this work was to analyse the role of cyclooxygenase-2 (Ptgs2) in endotoxin-induced decrease in Igf1 and Igf binding protein-3 (Igfbp3). For this purpose, male Wistar rats were injected with lipolysaccharide (LPS) and/or the Ptgs2 inhibitor meloxicam. LPS induced a significant decrease (P<0.01) in serum concentrations of Igf1 and Igfbp3 and their mRNAs in the liver. Meloxicam administration prevented the inhibitory effect of LPS injection on serum Igf1 and its liver mRNA. By contrast, meloxicam administration was unable to modify the inhibitory effect of LPS on Igfbp3. LPS injection also induced a decrease in GH receptor (Ghr) mRNA in the liver, and meloxicam attenuated this effect. In order to elucidate a direct action of the Ptgs2 inhibitor on the liver cells, the effect of LPS and/or meloxicam was studied in primary cultures of hepatocytes with non-parenchymal cells. LPS decreased Igf1 and Ghr but not Igfbp3 gene expression in liver cells in culture. Meloxicam administration attenuated the inhibitory effect of LPS on Igf1 mRNA, whereas it did not modify the decrease in Ghr mRNA after LPS. The effect of meloxicam on the LPS response does not seem to be mediated by changes in nitric oxide or tumour necrosis factor (Tnf) production, since meloxicam did not modify the stimulatory effect of LPS on nitric oxide or Tnfalpha gene expression both in vivo and in vitro. All these data suggest that LPS-induced Ptgs2 activation decreases Igf1 gene expression in liver cells.

Adipose tissue loss in adjuvant arthritis is associated with a decrease in lipogenesis, but not with an increase in lipolysis.

Adjuvant-induced arthritis is a model of rheumatoid arthritis that induces cachexia. In other cachectic situations, there is an increase in lipolysis resulting in a loss of adipose tissue mass. The aim of this work was to analyse the effect of chronic arthritis, induced by adjuvant injection, on white adipose tissue (WAT). For this purpose, rats were killed 10 days after adjuvant injection, when the first external symptoms appeared, on days 15 and 22 when the external signs of the illness reach their severest level. As arthritis decreases food intake, a pair-fed group was also included. Serum concentrations of insulin, leptin, adiponectin, glycerol and nitrites, as well as gene expression of leptin, adiponectin, hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL), fatty acid synthase (FAS), tumour necrosis factor alpha and zinc-alpha(2)-glycoprotein (ZAG) were determined. Arthritis decreased food intake between days 5 and 16, but not during the last 5 days of the experiment. There was a marked decrease in relative adipose tissue weight and in serum leptin and adiponectin as well as in their gene expression in WAT in arthritic rats. Arthritis decreased the gene expression of FAS in the WAT. However, none of these effects was found in pair-fed rats. Arthritis did not increase lipolysis, since arthritic rats have lower serum concentrations of glycerol, HSL mRNA in WAT, as well as liver ZAG mRNA than the pair-fed or control rats. These data suggest that in chronic arthritis the decrease in white adipose mass is secondary to a reduced adipose lipogenesis, and this effect is not mainly due to the decrease in food intake.