title: Functional interrelationships between adrenergic and opioid systems in the neuroregulation of growth hormone secretion in infant rats.
abstract: Abstract Functional interrelationships between hypothalamic adrenergic and opioid systems were studied in 10-day-old male and female rats. Either clonidine (150 mug/kg, sc), an alpha(2)-adrenoceptor agonist, or FK 33-824 (1 mg/kg, sc), a synthetic analog of met-enkephalin, increased plasma growth hormone (GH) levels, the increment being significantly higher with FK 33-824 than with clonidine. Pharmacologic blockade of opioid receptors with naloxone (5 mg/kg, sc) did not modify either basal GH levels, or the GH response to clonidine, whereas blockade of alpha(2)-adrenoceptors with yohimbine (2.5 mg/kg, sc) reduced basal GH levels and partially counteracted the FK 33-824-induced GH rise. Clonidine (150mu/kg, sc, twice daily) administered from postnatal day 5 to 9, increased basal GH levels and pituitary GH content. In these pups, acute administration of clonidine failed to further release GH, but the GH response to acute administration of FK 33-824 was significantly enhanced. A 5-day treatment with FK 33-824 (1 mg/kg, sc, twice daily), neither modified basal GH levels, nor pituitary GH content. Under these conditions, the in vivo GH response to an FK 33-824 challenge was significantly enhanced, and the response to clonidine was preserved. Pituitaries from FK 33-824-pretreated rats were hyperresponsive to GH-releasing hormone (10(-7) M). In summary, our data indicate that in rat pups: 1) two separate components i.e. one adrenergic, the other extra-adrenergic, subserve the GH-releasing effect of opioid peptides; 2) in contrast to short-term stimulation of alpha(2)-adrenoceptors, stimulation of opioid receptors does not trigger GH synthesis or induce down-regulation or tolerance; 3) short-term opioid stimulation does not affect an alpha(2)-adrenergic challenge, but sensitizes to an opioid challenge.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Chemotherapy and Toxicology, University of Milan, 20129 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: V M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Arce
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Cella
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Locatelli
authors.forename: E E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Müller