Journal of Animal Science, Vol 68, Issue 10 3198-3203, Copyright © 1990 by American Society of Animal Science

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Growth hormone release after N-methyl-D,L-aspartate in sheep: dose response and effect of an opioid antagonist

M. J. Estienne, K. K. Schillo, M. A. Green and S. M. Hileman
Dept. of Anim. Sci., University of Kentucky, Lexington 40546-0215.

The objectives of our experiments were 1) to determine the effect of N-methyl-D,L-aspartate (NMA), an agonist of the neuroexcitatory amino acids aspartate and glutamate, on growth hormone (GH) release in ovariectomized ewes, and 2) to determine the effect of naloxone, an opioid antagonist, on the GH response to NMA. Jugular blood was collected via venipuncture at 12-min intervals for 2 h before and 2 h after i.v. injection of NMA. In Exp. 1, ewes received either 0, 6, 12 or 24 mg NMA/kg BW dissolved in .9% saline solution (n = 4 per treatment). Growth hormone concentrations were similar (P greater than .1) between groups prior to injection (9.8 +/- .7 ng/ml; mean +/- SEM) and were unaffected (P greater than .1) by saline treatment. In contrast, 6, 12 or 24 mg NMA/kg BW increased mean GH concentration by 210% (P less than .04), 273% (P less than .02) and 234% (P less than .02), respectively. In Exp. 2, ewes received NMA (6 mg/kg BW) 5 min after either saline (n = 4) or naloxone (1 mg/kg BW; n = 4) pretreatment. Serum GH concentrations averaged 7.0 +/- 1.1 ng/ml before pretreatment and increased similarly (238%; P greater than .1) in both groups following NMA. In summary, NMA increased GH concentrations in ovariectomized ewes by some mechanism that does not involve opioid receptors that are antagonized by naloxone.

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