BACKGROUND Ghrelin plays important roles in glucose metabolism, appetite, and body weight regulation, and recent evidence suggests ghrelin prevents excessive anxiety under conditions of chronic stress. METHODS We used ghrelin knockout (ghr-/-) mice to examine the role of endogenous ghrelin in anxious behavior and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) responses to acute stress. RESULTS G...

OBJECTIVE The exon 3-deleted/full-length (d3/fl) growth hormone receptor (d3/fl-GHR) polymorphism has been associated with responsiveness to GH therapy in some children and also with adult height variation in the general population. We aimed to evaluate the distribution of d3/fl-GHR polymorphism in a Turkish population. METHODS The study included 477 (54 females/423 males) healthy adults with...

Growth hormone insensitivity syndrome (GHIS), a genetic disease characterized by growth retardation combined with high serum concentration of growth hormone (GH) and low insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) levels, can be caused by mutations in the GH receptor (GHR) gene. We investigated the molecular defects in the GHR gene in a patient with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF-1). The patient, a 2-ye...

The GH binding protein (GHBP), which exists in many vertebrates, is a circulating high affinity binding protein corresponding to the extracellular domain of the GH receptor (GHR). In humans, rabbits, and several other species, the GHBP is generated by proteolysis of the GHR and shedding of its extracellular domain. We previously showed that GHBP shedding is inducible by the phorbol ester phorbo...

Large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) is an aggressive neoplasm with a low frequency of occurrence in the digestive tract. We present a series of eight patients diagnosed with LCNEC of the colon and rectum. Grossly, tumors were presented as endophytic/ulcerative, annular and polypoid masses, with a gray-white color and necrosis in most cases. Histologically, they were high-grade tumors co...

The goal of this study was to test whether the "loss of the complexity" hypothesis can be applied to compare the metabolic patterns of mouse models with known differences in metabolic and endocrine function as well as life span. Here, we compare the complexity of locomotor activity and metabolic patterns (energy expenditure, VO₂, and respiratory quotient) of the long-lived growth hormone recept...

Growth hormone (GH)-inducible suppressors of cytokine signaling (SOCS/CIS proteins) inhibit GH receptor (GHR) signaling to STAT5b via phosphotyrosine-dependent binding interactions with the tyrosine kinase JAK2 (SOCS-1) and/or the cytoplasmic tail of GHR (CIS and SOCS-3). Presently, we investigate the mechanism of CIS inhibition and CIS's role in down-regulating GHR-JAK2 signaling to STAT5b in ...

Growth hormone receptor/binding protein knockout (GHR-KO) mice live approximately 40% longer than their normal siblings do. These mice have dramatically reduced plasma levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) and enhanced insulin sensitivity. We examined the expression level of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) and retinoid X receptors family genes in the livers of normal...

Various central nervous system (CNS) tissues express both growth hormone (GH) and its receptor (GHR), including those involved in memory and cognition. Studies show the presence of GHR in the pituitary, choroid plexus, hypothalamus, hippocampus, pituitary and the spinal cord during development and, to a lesser extent, in adults. This expression implies a role of GH signaling in growth, developm...

By use of RNase protection assays, hepatic growth hormone receptor (GHR) and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) mRNA abundances were measured in sheep fetuses after experimental manipulation of fetal plasma thyroid hormone concentrations by fetal thyroidectomy (TX) and exogenous infusion of triiodothyronine (T(3)) and cortisol. TX abolished the normal prepartum rise in hepatic GHR abundance b...