Bovine growth hormone transgenic mice display alterations in locomotor activity and brain monoamine neurochemistry.

Recent clinical and experimental data indicate a role for GH in mechanisms related to anhedonia/hedonia, psychic energy, and reward. In the present study we have investigated whether bovine GH (bGH) transgenic mice and nontransgenic controls differ in spontaneous locomotor activity, a behavioral response related to brain dopamine (DA) and reward mechanisms, as well as in locomotor activity response to drugs of abuse known to interfere with brain DA systems. The animals were tested for locomotor activity once a week for 4 weeks. When first exposed to the test apparatus, bGH transgenic animals displayed significantly more locomotor activity than controls during the entire registration period (1 h). One week later, after acute pretreatment with saline, the two groups did not differ in locomotor activity, whereas at the third test occasion, bGH mice were significantly more stimulated by d-amphetamine (1 mg/kg, ip) than controls. At the fourth test, a tendency for a larger locomotor stimulatory effect of ethanol (2.5 g/kg, ip) was observed in bGH transgenic mice. bGH mice displayed increased tissue levels of serotonin and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid in several brain regions, decreased DA levels in the brain stem, and decreased levels of the DA metabolite 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid in the mesencephalon and diencephalon, compared with controls. In conclusion, bGH mice display more spontaneous locomotor activity than nontransgenic controls in a novel environment and possibly also a disturbed habituation process. The finding that bGH mice were also more sensitive to d-amphetamine-induced locomotor activity may suggest that the behavioral differences observed are related to differences in brain DA systems, indicating a hyperresponsiveness of these systems in bGH transgenic mice. These findings may constitute a neurochemical basis for the reported psychic effects of GH in humans.