| Growth hormone (GH) is a pleiotropic 22 kilodalton polypeptide hormone. Although GH elicits body growth in juvenile animals, it also mediates protein, carbohydrate, and lipid metabolism throughout life. Numerous species share a high degree of GH amino acid and protein secondary structure identity. GH consists of four regions of ;In summary, receptor binding affinities of all of the analogs were similar to wild-type bGH and the bGH analog transgenic mice all exhibited the enhanced growth phenotype of wild-type bGH transgenic mice. However, unlike bGH mice and other bGH analog mice, upon histological examination of the bGH-H22R mice, cystic lesions of the kidney were found. These cysts were seen in the bGH-H22R mice over the age of 5 months. Likewise, these mice demonstrated levels of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine (SCR) several fold higher than the other transgenic mice. Glucose tolerance testing in these bGH-H22R mice (over the age of 5 months) revealed that they possessed a lower tolerance for glucose, or an enhancement of the diabetogenic properties compared to wild-type GH. |
