title: Effects of systemic GHRH on sleep in intact and hypophysectomized rats.
abstract: The role of pituitary growth hormone (GH) in the mediation of enhanced sleep elicited by GH-releasing hormone (GHRH) was studied in the rat. Intact and hypophysectomized (HYPOX) rats received systemic injections of GHRH or physiological saline. GHRH (0.5, 5.0, or 50 micrograms/kg in the intact rats and 0.5 or 50 micrograms/kg in HYPOX rats) was injected 6 h after light onset (P.M. injection) or just before light onset (A.M. injection, 0.5 microgram/kg in both A.M. groups). Sleep-wake activity and brain cortical temperature were recorded for 23 h (12 h light + 11 h dark). A.M. injection of GHRH did not alter sleep in normal or HYPOX rats. Each dose of P.M. GHRH increased rapid-eye-movement sleep (REMS) during 6 h postinjection in the intact rats. Hypophysectomy abolished the REMS-promoting activity of GHRH. P.M. injection of 0.5 microgram/kg GHRH increased non-REM sleep (NREMS) and enhanced electroencephalogram slow-wave activity during NREMS in both the intact and the HYPOX rats. The NREMS-promoting activity disappeared when the dose of GHRH was increased in the intact rats, whereas a tendency to enhanced NREMS was still observed after 50 micrograms/kg GHRH in the HYPOX rats. GHRH stimulated GH secretion dose dependently in the intact rats. A.M. injection of 0.5 microgram/kg GHRH tended to be less effective in stimulating GH release than the same dose administered P.M. The results confirm the time-of-day variations in the GHRH effects on sleep previously reported in human subjects. It is likely that pituitary GH is involved in the mediation of the REMS-promoting activity of GHRH but not in the NREMS-promoting activity of GHRH. Nevertheless, the results do not exclude the possibility that GH may modulate NREMS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, A. Szent-Györgyi Medical University, Szeged, Hungary.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Obál
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Floyd
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kapás
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bodosi
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Krueger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001831:Body Temperature / Q000187:drug effects; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D013006:Growth Hormone / Q000378:metabolism; D013007:Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007016:Hypophysectomy; D007267:Injections; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012016:Reference Values; D012890:Sleep / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D013006:Growth Hormone; D013007:Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone