A hyperglycemic peptide from pituitary growth hormone: preparation with pepsin and assay in ob-ob mice

Human Growth and Growth Hormone: From Antiquity to the Recominant Age to the Future

Since antiquity Man has been fascinated by the variations in human (and animal) growth. Stories and art abound about giants and little people. Modern genetics have solved some of etiologies at both extremes of growth. Serious study began with the pathophysiology of acromegaly followed by early attempts at treatment culminating in modern endoscopic surgery and multiple pharmacologic agents. Virtually at the same time experiments with the removal of the pituitary from laboratory animals noted the slowing or stopping of linear growth and then over a few decades the extraction and purification of a protein within the anterior pituitary that restored, partially or in full, the animal's growth. Human growth hormone was purified decades after those from large animals and it was noted that it was species specific, that is, only primate growth hormone was metabolically active in primates. That was quite unlike the beef and pork insulins which revolutionized the care of children with diabetes mellitus. A number of studies included mild enzymatic digestion of beef growth hormone to determine if those "cores" had biologic activity in primates and man. Tantalizing data showed minimal but variable metabolic efficacy leading to the "active core" hypothesis, for these smaller peptides would be amenable to peptide synthesis in the time before recombinant DNA. Recombinant DNA changed the landscape remarkably promising nearly unlimited quantities of metabolically active hormone. Eight indications for therapeutic use have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and a large number of clinical trials have been undertaken in multiple other conditions for which short stature in childhood is a sign. The future predicts other clinical indications for growth hormone therapy (and perhaps other components of the GH?IGF-1 axis), longer-acting analogues and perhaps a more physiologic method of administration as virtually all methods at present are far from physiologic.

Biosynthetic human growth hormone: subchronic toxicity studies in rats and monkeys

Biosynthetic human growth hormone was injected subcutaneously in rats for 90 days and in cynomolgus monkeys for 30 days. The daily doses were 0.5, 3.3 and 25 IU kg-1 (rats) and 0.3 and 15 IU kg-1 (monkeys). The growth hormone was tolerated well in both rats and monkeys. No drug related deaths occurred and all animals appeared to be normal and also behaved normally throughout the dosing period. Increased body weight gain, increased food utilisation and increased organ weights were seen in the rats in the high and intermediate dose groups. The higher doses of human growth hormone (3.3 and 25 IU kg-1) caused a glandular hyperplasia of the mammary gland in male and female rats with evidence of secretory activity. In the female monkeys secretory activity was seen without any sign of mammary gland hyperplasia. Mucification of the vaginal epithelium and stress induced prostatitis was observed in the rats. Additional treatment related changes in the rats were an increased haematopoietic activity in the spleen and an increase in the amounts of calcium and phosphate excreted in urine. An increase in fasting plasma glucose levels was seen in the male monkeys on the high dose level. The changes observed during the treatment periods presumably represent exaggerated pharmacological effects of the growth hormone.

Diabetogenic peptide from human growth hormone: partial purification from peptic digest and long-term action in ob/ob mice

Studies in female ob/ob mice demonstrated diabetogenic properties of human growth hormone (somatotropin) and of a fragment generated therefrom by controlled digestion with pepsin; both the fragment and parent growth hormone produce long-term effects on carbohydrate metabolism; in acute glucose tolerance tests, only the fragment is active. Two nonacidic diabetogenic fractions have been separated from inactive fractions by chromatography on Bio-Gel P-6 followed by ion exchange chromatography at pH 4.3 and gel filtration on Bio-Gel P-2 and/or Sephadex G25; these active fractions exhibited multiple NH2-terminal (Lys, Phe, Leu, and Tyr). Fraction CD has these characteristics: (i) It induces glucose intolerance in fasting female ob/ob mice when injected subcutaneously in a divided dose, 15 min before and concurrently with glucose; mice injected with sufficient peptide exhibit elevated fasting glucose levels as long as 7 months after a single glucose tolerance test. (ii) It is a peptide smaller than that reported to stimulate body growth, but larger than somatostatin. This peptide, as reported earlier, does not crossreact with antiserum to human growth hormone in radioimmunoassay.

Diabetogenic activity of the anterior pituitary (a progress report)

The exact nature of the diabetogenic activity of the anterior pituitary gland remains a mystery. While growth hormone (GH) fractions clearly can produce a diabetogenic effect, there is increasing evidence that GH itself does not exert this effect. Several new theories that purport to explain the nature of diabetogenic activity are discussed. The current evidence supports the view that the activity is the result of a GH fragment or some other closely related protein such as the one ("diabetogenic protein") first described by LOUIS and CONN. A progress report of the research on this new "diabetogenic protein" is given.