Abstract
Although insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-2 (IGFBP-2) is an abundant IGFBP in fetal and postnatal plasma, its regulation is not yet clearly understood. To address this question in sheep, we purified ovine IGFBP-2 and developed a homologous radioimmunoassay. We have studied its ontogenesis and measured serum concentrations of ovine IGFBP-2 after bovine growth hormone (bGH), ovine placental lactogen (oPL) and IGF-I treatment.
Concentrations of IGFBP-2 were high at 125 days of gestation (550 ± 15 μg/l) but fell after birth P<0·05) and plateaued after 1 year of age (340 ± 20 μg/l). In lactating ewes, bGH treatment for 7 days significantly reduced (21%; P<0·05) IGFBP-2 relative to the saline-treated group. Similarly, in neonatal lambs, bGH treatment from day 3 to day 23 of life reduced (P<0·05) IGFBP-2 by 23% relative to the saline-treated group. oPL had no effect on serum levels of IGFBP-2 in the ewe or the neonatal lamb. In well-fed yearling lambs, treatment with IGF-I reduced IGFBP-2 values by 27% (P<0·05) relative to control animals. In yearling lambs, reduced nutrition increased plasma IGFBP-2 (41%; P<0·05). However this increase was abolished by IGF-I treatment.
The changes in plasma levels of IGFBP-2 were positively related to changes in IGF-II while there was a negative relationship between circulating IGF-I and IGFBP-2 such that both IGF-I and IGF-II may play a role in the regulation of IGFBP-2 in serum.
Journal of Endocrinology (1995) 144, 75–82
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