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Mechanism of action of Hexarelin. I. Growth hormone-releasing activity in the rat

Torsello A, Grilli R, Luoni M, Guidi M, Ghigo MC, Wehrenberg WB, Deghenghi R, Müller EE, Locatelli V. Mechanism of action of Hexarelin. I. Growth hormone-releasing activity in the rat. Eur J Endocrinol 1996;135:481–8. ISSN 0804–4643

We have reported Hexarelin (HEXA), an analog of growth hormone-releasing peptide 6 (GHRP-6), potently stimulates growth hormone (GH) secretion in infant and adult rats. This study was undertaken to further investigate Hexarelin's mechanisms of action. In 10-day-old pups, treatments with HEXA (80 µg/kg, b.i.d.) for 3–10 days significantly enhanced, in a time-related fashion, the GH response to an acute HEXA challenge. Qualitatively similar effects were elicited in pups passively immunized against growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) from birth. In adult male rats, a 5-day pretreatment with HEXA (150 µg/kg, b.i.d.) did not enhance the effect of the acute challenge, and the same pattern was present after a 5-day pretreatment in male rats with surgical ablation of the mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH-ablated rats). In addition, in adult sham-operated rats, Hexarelin (300 µg/kg, iv) induced a GH response greater (p < 0.05) than that induced by GHRH (2 µg/kg, iv). However, in MBH-ablated rats 7 days after surgery, GHRH was significantly (p < 0.05) more effective than HEXA, and 30 days after surgery HEXA and GHRH evoked similar rises of plasma GH. Finally, the in vitro Hexarelin (10^–6 mol/l) effect was transient while GHRH (10^–8 mol/l) induced a longer lasting and greater GH release. Three different mechanisms, not mutually exclusive, are postulated for Hexarelin stimulation of GH secretion in vivo: a direct action on the pituitary, though of minor relevance; an indirect action that involves release of GHRH, of relevance only in adult rats; and an action through the release of a still unknown hypothalamic "factor", which in infant and adult rats elicits GH release acting sinergistically with GHRH.

Antonio Torsello, Department of Pharmacology, via Vanvitelli 32, 20129 Milano, Italy

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