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The mechanisms underlying the age-related decrease and increase in somatotroph responsiveness to growth hormone-releasing factor (GHRF) and somatostatin respectively were studied in rat pituitary membranes in vitro.

Basal adenylate cyclase (AC) activity was similar in pituitary membranes from rats of 8 days (either sex) and male rats of 3 months, but it was almost threefold higher in membranes from male rats of 21–23 months. GHRF induced a lower percentage stimulation of AC activity in membranes from infant and old than adult rats. Somatostatin inhibited stimulation of AC induced by forskolin more effectively in membranes from adult than infant and old rats. In parallel experiments, since the tissue we used is formed by a mixed population of pituitary cells, we evaluated, for comparison, the effect on AC of neurohormones, i.e. vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) and dopamine which act primarily on lactotrophs. VIP induced a lower fold-stimulation of AC activity in membranes from infant and old than adult rats. Dopamine inhibited forskolin-induced stimulation of AC in the following rank order of magnitude: old, adult and infant rats, and was also more effective in inhibiting basal AC activity in old than in adult rats. The stimulatory and inhibitory G proteins (G_s and G_i) coupled to AC were measured indirectly by evaluating stimulatory and inhibitory effects of different concentrations of GTP on AC. GTP, at stimulatory concentrations, increased AC activity in membranes from infant and adult rats similarly whereas its effect was significantly greater in membranes from old rats. Conversely, GTP, at inhibitory concentrations, decreased AC activity similarly in membranes from adult and infant rats, whereas in old rats inhibition was apparent at more than a tenfold lower concentration of GTP.

These data suggest (1) that the greater somatotroph sensitivity to GHRF in terms of GH secretion of the early postnatal period is not due to supersensitive GHRF receptors but rather may be accounted for, at least partially, by the low function of somatostatinergic receptors; (2) that the inability of GHRF to stimulate GH release in aged rats probably results from an uncoupling between the GHRF receptor and the G protein; and (3) that in aged rats the decreased ability of somatostatin to inhibit AC activity, in spite of the high G_i activity, results from a reduced number of somatotroph cells and, hence, receptors.

Journal of Endocrinology (1991) 131, 251–257

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