Jc. Fleet et al., GROWTH-HORMONE AND PARATHYROID-HORMONE STIMULATE INTESTINAL CALCIUM-ABSORPTION IN AGED FEMALE RATS, Endocrinology, 134(4), 1994, pp. 1755-1760
Aged (16-month-old) female rats (n = 8/treatment) were injected for 12
days with GH (100 mug/100 g-day), PTH (8 mug/100 g.day), GH plus PTH,
or vehicle (V) in an experiment designed to determine the effects of
these hormones on intestinal mineral absorption in senescent rats. PTH
and GH increased fractional net calcium absorption to a similar exten
t (PTH, 1.6-fold; GH, 1.4-fold) even though PTH increased serum 1,25-d
ihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25-(OH)2D3] 3.7-fold, and GH had no significant
effect. GH plus PTH caused no further increase in serum 1,25-(OH)2D3 a
bove that caused by PTH alone, but resulted in an additive effect on n
et calcium absorption (2.3-fold increase). PTH and GH also had statist
ically independent effects on phosphate absorption; magnesium absorpti
on was elevated only by PTH. Duodenal calbindin-D9k levels were increa
sed by GH (from 3.79 +/- 0.72 to 6.98 +/-0.73 mug/mg protein) and PTH
(from 3.23 +/- 0.46 to 7.55 +/- 0,75 mug/mg protein); PTH plus GH trea
tment resulted in an additive effect on calbindin-D9k levels. Addition
al in vitro transport studies in the human intestinal cell line Caco-2
showed that 72 h of pretreatment with the local mediator of GH action
, insulin-like growth factor-I (at 10 and 100 ng/ml), stimulated trans
cellular calcium transport (22% and 44%, respectively) regardless of c
oncomitant 1 nM 1,25-(OH)2D3 pretreatment (80% increase). Our findings
suggest a 1,25-(OH)2D3-mediated mechanism for PTH-induced changes in
calcium and phosphorus absorption. In contrast, the effects of GH in t
he senescent rat are independent of changes in circulating 1,25-(OH)2D
3, and our data suggest that these effects may be mediated by insulin-
like growth factor-I.