Human growth hormone induces SOCS3 and CIS mRNA increase in the hypothalamic neurons of hypophysectomized rats.

The activation of the growth hormone (GH) receptor is followed by activation of the JAK2-STAT system in peripheral tissues, which in turn induces the expression of suppressors of cytokine signaling (SOCS) and/or cytokine-inducible SH2 protein (CIS) to achieve the attenuation of the signaling. To examine whether GH involves the SOCS/CIS system as intracellular negative regulators in the hypothalamus, we observed the effects of human GH on the gene expression of SOCS/CIS in the rat hypothalamus. The mRNAs of CIS, SOCS2, and SOCS3 in the hypothalamus of hypophysectomized male rats were examined by Northern analysis following the intravenous administration of recombinant human GH (hGH), 50 microg/100 g BW. The SOCS3 and CIS mRNAs were increased transiently with maximum expression at 1 h after hGH administration. The intravenous hGH did not induce SOCS2 mRNA expression in the hypothalamus. In situ hybridization demonstrated the increase of SOCS3 and CIS mRNAs in the arcuate nucleus after hGH administration, and the increase of SOCS3 mRNA in the periventricular nucleus. The hGH applied to primary cultured hypothalamic neurons at 500 ng/ml induced transient increase of SOCS3 and CIS mRNAs, but not SOCS2 mRNA. The results show that hGH acts directly on the neurons in the hypothalamus, and increases SOCS3 and CIS mRNAs, suggesting that these negative regulators may be involved in the mechanism that turns off the hGH action in the hypothalamic neurons.