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¹ Department of Medicine, Winthrop University Hospital, Mineola, New York 11501, USA
² The Health Sciences Center, State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York 11794, USA

(Requests for offprints should be addressed to J K Yeh; Email: jyeh{at}winthrop.org)

Clinical and in vitro data suggest a link between the elevation of the melanocortin peptide, ACTH, and longitudinal growth. Overproduction of ACTH in familial glucocorticoid deficiency (FGD) is associated with increased growth and ACTH increases the differentiation of chondrocytes along the endochondral pathway in vitro. Using the leptin-deficient obese (ob/ob) mouse along with lean control littermates (n = 9–10), we investigated the effects of adrenalectomy (ADX)-induced elevated ACTH with and without peripheral administration of the MC3-R-specific agonist, ₂-melanocyte stimulating hormone (₂-MSH), on longitudinal growth. Naso-anal and tibial growth were measured together with growth plate parameters; both total and zonal heights together with the proliferative index. Data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA with post hoc comparisons made using the Bonferroni correction. ADX significantly increased naso-anal length in lean mice and ADX plus ₂-MSH administration significantly increased naso-anal length above ADX alone in ob/ob mice. ₂-MSH administration to ADX lean and ob/ob mice significantly increased tibial length. In ob/ob mice, these changes occurred in the context of reduced food intake. Analysis of total and zonal growth plate heights suggest an increase in hypertrophic differentiation and an overall increase in growth plate turnover in ADX lean and ob/ob mice. These in vivo data show that ADX enhances linear growth and the results of ₂-MSH treatment suggest that the melanocortin system plays a role in linear growth.