Elsevier

Life Sciences

Volume 19, Issue 3, 1 August 1976, Pages 441-446
Life Sciences

Growth hormone and prolactin release by substance P in rats

https://doi.org/10.1016/0024-3205(76)90052-7Get rights and content

Abstract

Intravenous injection of synthetic Substance P resulted in a significant and dose-related increase in plasma growth hormone (GH) and prolactin (PRL) in urethane-anesthetized rats. Increases in plasma GH induced by Substance P were significantly suppressed by the simultaneous administration of either ℓ-dopa or nicotine, whereas plasma PRL responses to Substance P were blunted by ℓ-dopa but not by nicotine. Substance P also raised plasma GH and PRL in rats with extensive hypothalamic destruction. L-dopa significantly suppressed plasma PRL responses to Substance P in rats with hypothalamic destruction. However, plasma GH responses to Substance P were not significantly affected by ℓ-dopa nor by nicotine in animals with hypothalamic ablation. These results suggest that Substance P stimulates rat GH and PRL secretion possibly acting on the anterior pituitary and that ℓ-dopa and nicotine affect GH and PRL release induced by Substance P in different ways.

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Cited by (105)

  • Substance P stimulates Growth Hormone (GH) and GH-Releasing Hormone (GHRH) secretions through tachykinin NK2 receptors in sheep

    2012, Peptides
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    Substance P has been sequenced and its structure turned out to be a peptide of 11 aminoacids [1]. The role of substance P in Growth Hormone (GH) secretion was previously shown [10,19]. Those authors showed that an i.v. injection of substance P significantly increases GH secretion in rats.

  • Tachykinins and the control of prolactin secretion

    2006, Peptides
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    With all these reservations in mind, however, it was very evident that SP induced significant prolactin release. Kato et al. [82] were also able to show that l-dopa, a precursor of dopamine, was able to completely block the stimulatory effect of SP. Furthermore, SP was also effective in inducing prolactin release in animals with extensive damage of the hypothalamus, and this suggests that SP action was exerted at the pituitary level.

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Supported in part by grants from the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Welfare, the Tobacco & Salt Public Corporation, Japan.

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