Regulation of the pituitary growth hormone-releasing hormone receptor in ageing male and female LOU rats: new insights into healthy ageing.

Ageing is characterised by a decrease of somatotroph functionality, involving growth hormone-releasing hormone receptor (GHRH-R). The present study was conducted in LOU/C/jall (LOU) rats, a strain described as a model of healthy ageing, which is characterised by a low adiposity and long life expectancy without developing severe pathologies. Effects of age and diet (chow versus self-selection), on levels of anterior pituitary GHRH-R mRNA transcripts, were assessed in male and female LOU rats. The effect of age on pituitary GHRH-R functionality was examined in the anterior pituitary of both males and females fed chow diet. Moreover, serum insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), T4 and leptin were measured because changes in their concentration could affect GHRH-R expression. In the pituitary of 18-month-old male and female LOU/C/jall rats fed standard chow, the level of 2.5-kb GHRH-R mRNA transcript, coding for functional GHRH-R, was significantly decreased. In 24- to 34-month-old males and females, it progressively returned to the level of younger animals, suggesting an enrichment of the group with survivors maintaining functional GHRH-R. In males and females repeatedly submitted to self-selection, this phenomenon was not observed. Studies with the GHRH-R agonist, Fluo-GHRH, revealed that 73% of 16-18-month-old male and female rats studied did not show an increase of fluorescence density characteristic of receptor-mediated internalisation upon incubation at 37 degrees C. In the other 27%, the increase of fluorescence was identical to that observed in pituitaries of young rats, suggesting the presence of an optimal level of functional GHRH-R. Serum levels of leptin, free T4 and total IGF-I decreased more drastically in ageing males and in rats fed a self-selection diet. A positive correlation was demonstrated between leptin and IGF-I levels in ageing males and females fed standard chow and ageing females submitted to a self-selection regimen. In conclusion, healthy ageing in LOU rats fed chow diet appears to be associated with a maintenance of functional pituitary GHRH-R levels found in younger rats but not necessarily with those of serum leptin, T4 and IGF-I.