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The effect of body condition per se on plasma IGFs and IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs) and the whole-body metabolic responses to recombinant DNA-derived bovine GH (rbGH) in both the fed and the fasted state were determined in lean and dietary obese sheep (n=6/group). Sheep at zero-energy balance and equilibrium body weight were injected s.c. for 12 days with 100 µg/kg rbGH immediately before their morning feeding. Before GH treatment, fasting plasma concentrations of insulin (17·0 ± 1·9 vs 7·5 ± 0·7 µU/ml), IGF-I (345 ± 25 vs 248 ± 10 ng/ml), glucose (52·6 ± 1·1 vs 48·3 ± 0·7 mg/dl), and free fatty acid (FFA) (355 ± 45 vs 229 ± 24 nmol/ml) were greater (P<0·05) and those of GH (1·1 ± 0·2 vs 2·6 ± 0·3 ng/ml) were lower (P<0·05) in obese than in lean sheep. Fasting concentrations of IGF-II and glucagon were not affected (P>0·05) by obesity. GH concentrations were increased equivalently by 6–9 ng/ml in lean and obese sheep during GH treatment. GH caused an immediate and a marked fivefold increase in the fasting insulin level in obese sheep but only minimally affected insulin concentration in lean sheep. The increment in fasting glucose during GH treatment was greater (P<0·05) in obese (8–12 mg/dl) than in lean (2–5 mg/dl) sheep. Frequent measurements in the first 8 h after feeding and injection of excipient (day 0) or the first (day 1), sixth (day 6) and twelfth (day 12) daily injection of GH showed that prandial metabolism in both groups of sheep was affected minimally by GH. However, GH treatment on day 1 (not days 6 or 12) acutely attenuated the feeding-induced suppression of plasma FFA in both groups of sheep and this effect was significantly greater in obese than in lean sheep.

Although obese sheep were hyposomatotropic, the basal and GH-induced increases in plasma IGF-I concentrations were greater (P<0·05) in obese than in lean sheep. Plasma IGF-II was unaffected by obesity and was not increased by GH stimulation. Western ligand blotting showed that IGFBP-3 accounted for approximately 50–60% of the plasma IGF-I binding capacity in sheep respectively both before and during GH treatment. Basal plasma levels of IGFBP-2 were lower (P<0·05) and those of IGFBP-3 greater (P<0·05) in obese compared with lean sheep. GH increased the level of IGFBP-3 equally in lean and obese sheep, but suppressed the expression of IGFBP-2 more (P<0·05) in lean than in obese sheep. We concluded that the diabetogenic-like actions of GH in sheep were exaggerated markedly by obesity, and were expressed more during the fasted than the fed states. The effects of GH stimulation on the endocrine pancreas may be selective for β-cells and preferentially enhanced by obesity. GH regulation of IGF-I and the IGFBPs differs in lean and obese sheep.

Journal of Endocrinology (1997) 154, 329–346