• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.149-155
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• 2013

Mullerian inhibiting substance (MIS) is a member of the TGF-${\beta}$ (transforming growth factor-${\beta}$) family whose members play key roles in development, suppression of tumour growth, and feedback control of the pituitary-gonadal hormone axis. MIS is expressed in a highly tissue-specific manner in which it is restricted to male Sertoli cells and female granulose cells. The serum levels of MIS in prenatal and postnatal ICR mice were measured using the enzyme-linked immuno-solvent assay (ELISA) using the MIS/AMH antibody. Mice were grouped by age: the significant periods were at the onset of development. During sex organ differentiation, no remarkable difference between female and male foetus MIS serum levels (both<0.1 ng/ml) was observed. However, MIS serum levels in pregnant mice markedly changed (4.5~12.2 ng/ml). After birth, postnatal female and male mice serum MIS levels changed considerably (male: <0.1~138.5 ng/ml, female: 5.3~103.4 ng/ml), and the changing phase were diametrically opposed (male: decreasing, female: fluctuating). These findings suggest that MIS may have strong associations with not only develop-ment but also puberty. For further studies, establishing the standard MIS serum levels is of importance. Our study provides the basic information for the study of MIS interactions with reproductive organ disability, cancer, and the effect of other hormone or menopause. We hypothesise that if MIS is regularly injected into middle-age women, meno-pause will be delayed. We detected that serum MIS concentration curves change with age. The changing phase is different between males and females, and this difference is significant after birth. Moreover, MIS mRNA is expressed during the developmental period (prenatal) and also in the postnatal period. This finding indicates that MIS may play a significant role in the developmental stage and in growth after birth.

• Journal of Interdisciplinary Genomics
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.18-23
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• 2023

Conventional evaluation method for identifying the organic cause of short stature has a low detection rate. If an infant who is small for gestational age manifests postnatal growth deterioration, triangular face, relative macrocephaly, and protruding forehead, a genetic testing of IGF2, H19, GRB10, MEST, CDKN1, CUL7, OBSL1, and CCDC9 should be considered to determine the presence of Silver-Russell syndrome and 3-M syndrome. If a short patient with prenatal growth failure also exhibits postnatal growth failure, microcephaly, low IGF-1 levels, sensorineural deafness, or impaired intellectual development, genetic testing of IGF1 and IGFALS should be conducted. Furthermore, genetic testing of GH1, GHRHR, HESX1, SOX3, PROP1, POU1F1, and LHX3 should be considered if patients with isolated growth hormone deficiency have short stature below -3 standard deviation score, barely detectable serum growth hormone concentration, and other deficiencies of anterior pituitary hormone. In short patients with height SDS <-3 and high growth hormone levels, genetic testing should be considered to identify GHR mutations. Lastly, when severe short patients (height z score <-3) exhibit high levels of prolactin and recurrent pulmonary infection, genetic testing should be conducted to identify STAT5B mutations.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.97-101
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• 2016

Objective: Growth hormone and its mediator, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), have been suggested to exert gonadotropic actions in both humans and animals. The present study was conducted to assess the relationship between serum IGF-1 concentration, seminal plasma concentration, and sperm parameter abnormalities. Methods: A total of 79 men were enrolled in this study from December 2011 to July 2012 and were prospectively analyzed. Patient parameters analyzed included age, body mass index, smoking status, urological history, and fertility history. Patients were divided into four groups based on their semen parameters: normal (A, n=31), abnormal sperm motility (B, n=12), abnormal sperm morphology (C, n=20), and two or more abnormal parameters (D, n=16). Patient seminal plasma and serum IGF-1 concentrations were determined. Results: Patient baseline characteristics were not significantly different between any of the groups. The serum IGF-1 levels in groups B, C, and D were significantly lower than the levels in group A; however, the seminal plasma IGF-1 levels were not significantly different between any of the groups. Conclusion: Men with abnormal sperm parameters had significantly lower levels of serum IGF-1 compared with men with normal sperm parameters. Seminal plasma IGF-1 levels, however, did not differ significantly between the groups investigated here. Further investigations will be required to determine the exact mechanisms by which growth hormone and IGF-1 affect sperm quality.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.55-61
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• 1985

This study was carried out to investigate reproductive traits and sex hormone levels by growth in Korean native goats. Serum levels of FSH, LH, prolactin, estradiol-$17{\beta}$ and progesterone were determined every 15 days from the 70 days of age to 190 days by radioimmunoassay. The age and weight at sexual maturity were 183.6 days and 14.3 kg; the length of estrous cycle and estrus period were 20.3 days and 36.7 hours, respectively. The gestation period, litter size and body weight at birth were 148.4 days, 1.4 head and 1.8 kg, respectively. The levels of serum LH were highest with 3.93 mIU/ml at 70 days of age, thereafter decreased gradually to 1.21 mIU/ml at 190 days of age. The concentrations of FSH in serum were below 1.25 mIU/ml throughout the experimental period. The levels of prolactin were lowest with 3.09ng/ml at 85 days of age and highest with 4.65 ng/ml at 175 days of age. The serum levels of estradiol-$17{\beta}$ were increased with age, thus highest with 7.95 pg/ml at 190 days of age. The serum progesterone concentrations were maintained low levels (below 1.0 ng/ml) throughout the experimental period.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.127-136
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• 1998

A chimeric gene comprising murine whey acidic protein(mWAP) and human growth hormone(hGH) was used to produce transgenic rats express hGH and secrete it into the blood. Two lines of transgenic rats carrying the mWAP/hGH construct were established; High line was characterized by relatively high levels of serum hGH, and low line had relatively low levels. The secretory profiles of rat GH(rGH) as well as hGH, the transgene product, were obtained in transgenic males and females of low line; both hGH and rGH serum levels were flattened with no episodic fluctuations, and the overall mean concentration of rGH was significantly lower than in normal littermates. Although the animals of High line showed an acceles, as assessed by vaginal opening and occurrence of first ovulation, advanced by 7∼8 days in both lines of animals. Accordingly, the body weight at puberty of low line transgenic females was much lower than that of normal littermates, indicating that continuous hGH expression could induce precocious puberty without enhancing the growth rate.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.27-35
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• 1999

Background: Fibromyalgia is a common syndrome of musculoskeletal pain and fatigue. Lacking distinctive histological or laboratory abnormality in diagnosis, it has often been considered a form of "psychogenic rheumatism". Fibromyalgia causes much distress to the affected patients and often frustrates physicians, who are unable to start rational therapy on any logical disease pathology. Methods: Growth hormone is essential for muscular homeostasis. In the present study, the notion that the stage-4 sleep anomaly typically seen in the fibromyalgia syndrome may disrupt growth hormone secretion was tested. Because growth hormone has a very short half-life, serum levels of somatomedin C were measured; somatomedin C is the major mediator of growth hormone's anabolic actions and is a prerequisite for normal muscle homeostasis. Serum levels of somatomedin C using acid-extraction procedure and two-site immunoradiome-tric assay (IRMA) and number of tender points were measured in 27 female patients with fibromyalgia from 40 to 60 years old and 27 healthy controls. Results: There were no differences in the concentration of somatomedin C between fibromyalgia patients and controls ($mean{\pm}SD$: $178.3{\pm}75.5$ ng/ml versus $166.3{\pm}76.6$ ng/ml; p=0.55). And there were no correlations between number of tender point and serum somatomedin C level by linear regression analysis. Conclusions: These findings did not support that there is a distinctive disruption of the growth hormone-somatomedin C neuroendocrine axis in a fibromyalgia syndrome. But we can not discard the hypothesis that disturbed sleep predispose to muscle pain.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.310-314
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• 2011

The Banna miniature pig (BNMP) is a representative miniature pig breed in China. Even though BNMP dwarfism is obvious, its underlying causative mutations remain unknown. In this study, the BNMP and Large White pig (LWP) serum growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) levels were detected by ELISA and compared. BNMP serum IGF-1 levels were significantly lower than LWP levels (P<0.05). The miniature condition may arise from mutations in the GH and GH receptor (GHR) genes. Therefore, GH and GHR cDNA from the BNMP were cloned into a pMD18-T vector by RT-PCR using the total RNA obtained from the BNMP's pituitary and liver tissues. Sequencing results indicated that the open reading frame of the BNMP GH gene is composed of a 26-residue signal peptide and a 191-residue mature peptide. The coding sequence of the BNMP GHR gene contained 639 amino acids, including a signal peptide that is 18 amino acids long. Two amino acid substitutions, A09V and R22Q, were found in the signal peptide of the GH gene. Additionally, the S104P mutation was found in the BNMP's mature GH protein. Four mutations in the cytoplasmic domain of GHR may influence the downstream signal transduction of GHR, which needs further experimental evidence.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.1473-1478
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• 2008

An experiment was conducted to investigate the mechanism for the effect of tetrabasic zinc chloride (TBZC) in enhancing growth performance of weanling piglets. Gut-brain peptides play an important role in the regulation of growth and appetite in animals. This study evaluated the effects of TBZC on blood concentrations of growth hormone (GH), ghrelin, insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), cholecystokinin (CCK) and neuropeptide Y (NPY). Seventy-two weanling piglets (Landrace$\times$Large White) with an initial body weight (BW) of $6.7{\pm}0.16kg$ and aged $24{\pm}1days$ were assigned to three dietary treatments: i) control diet without TBZC supplement, ii) the control diet supplemented with 2,000 mg Zn from TBZC/kg and iii) TBZC-supplemented diet pair-fed with respect to the control diet. Each treatment had six replications (pens) of four piglets. At the end of a 14-d experimental period, piglets were weighed and feed consumption was measured, and blood samples were collected for assays of GH, ghrelin, IGF-I, CCK and NPY concentrations. The inclusion of TBZC in the diet increased average daily gain (p<0.01), average daily feed intake (p<0.05), and feed conversion ratio (p<0.05). Pair-fed piglets had higher ADG, and lower FCR than (p<0.05) Control piglets. Supplementation of the diet with TBZC increased (p<0.05) serum GH and plasma ghrelin levels in weanling piglets, but did not affect (p>0.05) serum IGF-I and plasma NPY and CCK concentrations. Pair-fed piglets had lower (p<0.05) serum GH levels than TBZC-supplemented piglets, but did not (p>0.05) differ from Control piglets. These data indicated that TBZC elevated the concentration of ghrelin and GH. This observation may partly explain the beneficial effects of TBZC on growth performance of weanling piglets.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.23-33
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• 2003

In order to study effects of Yukmiziwhang-Whan on the growth of rats, we divided the experimental rats into two groups(Control&Sample groups) and peformed the experimental study. Sample group was administered the extract of Yukmiziwhang-Whan 1.6ml/100g for 4 weeks, and Control group was administered equal dose of normal saline. We measured the body weight, the length of femur and tibia, the level of serum growth hormone, T3, T4, Insulin and testosterone. The results are summarized as follows : 1) The body weight was not changed compared with Control group. 2) The lengths of femur and tibia in the Sample group was longer than that of Control group, but it was not statistically significant. 3) The level of serum growth hormone in the Sample group significantly increased compared with Control group(p<0.05). 4) The level of serum T3 in the Sample group significantly increased compared with Control group(p<0.05) and T4 level was trending toward increasing compared with Control group. 5) The level of serum insulin in the Sample group was trending toward increase compared with Control group. 6) The level of serum testosterone in the Sample group was trending toward decrease compared with Control group. According to the above experimental results, ${\ulcorner}Yukmiziwhang-Whan{\lrcorner}$ are assumed to have effective activity on the growth of rats.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.452-458
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• 2003

Soybean is a rich source of isoflavones such as genistein and daidzein. Soy isoflavones have both weak estrogenic and anti-estrogenic effects and are structurally similar to tamoxifen, an agent that has an effect similar to that of estrogen in terms of reducing postmenopausal bone loss. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of differences in protein source (casein vs soy) and isoflavone levels (reduced vs higher levels) on selected bone markers and hormones in growing male rats. Thirty weanling Sprague-Dawley young rats were divided into 3 groups: The control group was fed a casein-based diet, the soy concentrate group was fed soy protein with totally reduced isoflavones content (isoflavones 0.07 mg/g protein), and the soy isolate group was fed soy protein with a higher than normal isoflavones content (isoflavones 3.4 mg/g protein). The degree of bone formation was estimated by measuring serum osteocalcin and alkaline phosphoatase (ALP). By determining collagen cross-linkage by immunoassay and correcting with creatinine values, the bone resorption rate was compared. Serum osteocalcin, growth hormone, estrogen and calcitonin were analyzed using radio immunoassay kits. The bone formation marker and ALP activity were differentiated by protein source, showing higher values than casein in feeding either soy isolate or soy concentrate. In this study using growing rats, the differences in isoflavone contents were not a significant factor in either bone formation or bone reaborption markers. Moreover, the soy isolate group had significantly higher levels of growth hormone than the casein group. The findings of this study suggest that growth hormone is partially responsible for its bone-formation effects in young growing rats. Soy protein and the isoflavones in soy protein are beneficial for bone-formation in growing male rats. Therefore, exposure to soy protein and isoflavones early in life may have long-term health benefits in preventing bone diseases such as osteoporosis. Further study to evaluate the mechanism of action of isoflavones on bones is warranted. (Korean J Nutrition 36(5): 452∼458, 2003)