GH decreases hepatic amino acid degradation after small bowel resection in rats without enhancing bowel adaptation.

Growth hormone (GH) treatment in short bowel syndrome is controversial, and the mechanisms of a possible positive effect remain to be elucidated. Rats were randomly subjected to either an 80% jejunoileal resection or sham operation and were given either placebo (NaCl) or biosynthetic rat GH (brGH). The in vivo capacity of urea nitrogen synthesis (CUNS) and the expression of urea cycle enzymes were measured and related to changes in body weight and adaptive growth in ileal segments on days 7 and 14. Ileal segments were examined by unbiased stereological techniques. brGH treatment decreased CUNS among the resected rats by 19% (P<0.05) and 36% (P<0.05) on days 7 and 14, respectively. The mRNA levels of urea cycle enzyme genes were not influenced by brGH treatment. brGH treatment did not increase the adaptive growth in the ileal segments. In conclusion, we found that GH treatment decreased the accelerated postoperative hepatic amino acid degradation in experimental short bowel syndrome without enhancing the morphological intestinal adaptation.