Effect of Growth Hormone and Anti-Growth Hormone Serum on the Lymphatic Tissue and the Immune Response

Author(s):  
W. Pierpaoli ◽  
E. Sorkin
1973 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Maor ◽  
E. Eylan ◽  
P. Alexander

ABSTRACT Ribonuclease activity in thymus and lymph nodes is stimulated by cortisone; insulin increases ribonuclease activity only in the thymus. Growth hormone and theophylline do not cause changes in thymus and lymph nodes ribonuclease levels. Injections of cortisone combined with growth hormone or with theophylline increase the activity more than cortisone alone. Insulin does not enhance the action of cortisone on ribonuclease activity. A synergistic loss in weight of thymus and spleen was found after administration of cortisone in combination with either growth hormone or with theophylline.


1993 ◽  
Vol 129 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alicia I Cardoso ◽  
Andrea S Llera ◽  
Rubén F Iacono ◽  
Horacio M Domené ◽  
Alicia S Martínez ◽  
...  

The existence of homologous anti-human growth hormone (anti-hGH) and heterologous anti-bovine growth hormone (anti-bGH) humoral immune responses in hypopituitary patients under hGH therapy has been reported previously. In order to study the influence of the hormone source, both responses were compared by radiobinding assays performed with [125I]hGH or [125I]bGH as tracers. Fifty-seven hypopituitary patients treated with extractive hGH, recombinant methionyl hGH or authentic recombinant hGH were studied. A very low incidence of heterologous antibodies was found in patients under recombinant hGH therapy, contrary to the high incidence observed in patients treated with extractive hGH preparations. In addition, immunochemical studies performed with a synthetic peptide (hGH 44–128) indicated that this peptide exhibited, in the anti-bGH/[125]bGH radioimmunoassay system, higher reactivity than the native hGH, suggesting that such a fragment resembled an altered conformation of the hormone. The high heterologous response elicited only by the extractive hGH along with the behaviour of the hGH 44–128 fragment supports the fact that the extraction and purification procedures in extractive preparations may alter slightly the structure of the hGH molecule and trigger a heterologous immune response.


1992 ◽  
Vol 81 (9) ◽  
pp. 730-730 ◽  
Author(s):  
F De Luca ◽  
P Duquesnoy ◽  
T Arrigo ◽  
F Lombardo ◽  
M Goossens

1966 ◽  
Vol 123 (6) ◽  
pp. 1013-1024 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heinz Bauer ◽  
Fiorenzo Paronetto ◽  
Willard A. Burns ◽  
Albert Einheber

The immune response to bacteria and to a soluble protein was compared in germfree and conventionalized mice. Sixty germfree and 59 conventionalized mice received a suspension of killed Serratia marcescens into one front foot-pad and sterile horse ferritin into the other and were sacrificed in groups from 2 hr to 14 days after inoculation. All mice had no pre-existing antibody to either antigen and the flora of the conventionalized mice never contained Serratia. Lymphatic tissue changes and the fate of the antigens were followed in axillary lymph nodes and the spleens by histologic, fluorescent antibody, and autoradiographic techniques after tritiated thymidine injection. Individual serum antibody titers for both antigens were determined at each time period. The cellular and serologic responses were slightly delayed in the germfree mice but later equaled and sometimes exceeded those of the conventional animals. In all animals, lymph nodes draining the site of Serratia injection showed a more vigorous response than those on the ferritin-injected side but the reaction was qualitatively the same for both antigens. All lymph nodes contained the antigens by 2 hr after foot-pad injection. With time, both antigens lost their particulate nature sooner in conventionalized than in germfree macrophages. In the latter, both antigens persisted throughout the study while no longer demonstrable with fluoresceinated antiserum in conventional macrophages after the first week. While phagocytosis is equal in germfree and conventional mice, a greater digestive capacity of macrophages for antigens seems to result from the continuous exposure of conventional animals to the immunologic effects of the microbial flora. Conversely, the lack of substantial antigenic stimulation of lymphatic tissue in germfree animals fails to develop these macrophage functions beyond their basic ability to degrade foreign substances. Although the onset of the immune response is delayed in germfree mice, the relatively prolonged antigen digestion and the presumably slower release of immunogenic antigen fragments result in a more sustained and sometimes greater response than in conventional animals. This modifying effect of the microflora on the function of macrophages during the immune response is independent of previous experience with, or the nature of, the antigen.


1971 ◽  
Vol 134 (5) ◽  
pp. 1095-1113 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. R. Pandian ◽  
G. P. Talwar

The effect of pituitary growth hormone on the biosynthesis of DNA in the thymus and other lymphoid organs, as well as the ability of the rat to respond immunologically to sheep red blood cells, has been evaluated. There is a marked reduction in plaque-forming cells, hemagglutination titers, and DNA synthesis in animals when examined at 15 wk after hypophysectomy. Administration of bovine growth hormone (BGH) leads to the enhancement of DNA synthesis in lymphoid organs and recovery of the immune response. Similar effects of the hormone are observed in plateaued rats. Injection of rabbit anti-BGH globulins, in contrast to normal rabbit globulins, over 5 days causes a drop in the weight of the thymus and in the rate of DNA synthesis in this organ. The thymus is also the organ in which stimulation of DNA synthesis is observed at a time period earlier than the spleen and lymph nodes after a single injection of BGH. The hormone stimulates not only the incorporation of thymidine-3H into DNA in the cortical cells, but also the incorporation of sodium sulfate-35S into TCA-insoluble biopolymers reported to be elaborated in the medullary area of the thymus. An in vitro system for the action of BGH on the thymus has been described. There is an obligatory requirement for calcium, but not for fetal calf serum in the medium for the hormone effect. An early action of the hormone is the enhanced incorporation of uridine-G-3H into RNA in thymocytes which is followed by a stimulation of the synthesis of proteins and DNA. The stimulatory action of growth hormone on RNA synthesis is not because of a facilitated uptake of the radioactive uridine by the cells under hormonal influence, a mechanism by which insulin is observed to increase RNA synthesis in thymocytes in vitro. The action of growth hormone on thymocytes is specific, since thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), and heat-inactivated growth hormone are not effective. BGH has also a beneficial action on the regeneration of the thymus and spleen in starved rats.


1984 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-58
Author(s):  
F. A. H. Rice ◽  
J. D. McCurdy ◽  
Mary Newby ◽  
Cynthia Carlyn ◽  
Jeannette Stack

The reports of early investigators that growth is delayed by thymectomy of immature animals have been confirmed. Although growth is delayed by thymectomy, thymectomized animals approach asymptotically with age the same final weight as corresponding intact animals. Treatment with leucogenenol, a thymothyroid hormone, accelerates the rate of growth of immature neonatally thymectomized rats to that of normal rats. However, treatment with leucogenenol does not increase the rate of growth of normal rats. Treatment with leucogenenol does not change levels of growth hormone (GH) or thyroxine (T4) in the serum of either thymectomized or intact immature and adult rats. Neither is the depression in levels of serum leucogenenol that follows thymectomy associated with a change in serum levels of GH or T4. Thus it is apparent that levels of serum leucogenenol do not affect the rate of growth of immature animals by increasing serum levels of GH or T4. By analogy with the finding that treatment with leucogenenol increases the rate at which committed cells of the bone marrow and cells involved in the immune response develop into functional cells, it is suggested that the levels of serum leucogenenol are one of the factors that determine the rate at which types of body cells that make up bone and other body tissues develop from committed precursors.


2002 ◽  
Vol 227 (7) ◽  
pp. 535-544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary A. Hall ◽  
Andrzej Bartke ◽  
John M. Martinko

Effects of growth hormone (GH) levels on the humoral immune response were investigated in metallothionein I (MT)-bovine (b) GH-transgenic (tg) and GH-deficient Ames dwarf (Prop1 dt–/–) mice. Four-month-old mice were given primary and secondary injections of either normal saline or tetanus toxoid (TT) to induce specific antibody (Ab) production. MT-bGH-tg mice with high peripheral levels of bGH produced less TT-specific Ab than normal nontransgenic (Ntg) littermates, df, or nondwarf (Ndf) control mice. Titers reached maximum levels at 3–4 weeks postprimary immunization (PPI) and declined gradually through 24 weeks PPI in all groups of mice. Peripheral CD4+ and CD8+ T cell populations were significantly lower in tg than in Ntg, df, or Ndf mice. No significant differences were found in B cell numbers between tg, Ntg, or df mice. T helper 2 (Th2) cell populations were significantly greater in df mice compared to Ntg control mice. No significant differences were found in CD4+:CD8+ T cell ratios, interleukin (IL)-4 concentrations or interferon (IFN)-γ levels between tg, Ntg, df, and Ndf mice. No patterns of significant sexual dimorphism were found for any of the immune parameters studied. Elevated levels of corticosterone were investigated as a possible immunosuppressant mechanism responsible for low Ab responses in the tg mice. Ab production was not enhanced by decreasing corticosterone in tg mice. Thus, high endogenous GH levels inhibit specific Ab production and peripheral T cell populations but not peripheral B cell numbers, Th2 cell populations, or IL-4 or IFN-gamma production. Elevated corticosterone levels do not appear to be responsible for suppressed humoral immune responses. Low levels of endogenous GH do not inhibit specific Ab production but may contribute to increased peripheral Th2 cell numbers.


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