Effects of growth hormone therapy and malnutrition on the growth of rats with renal failure.

We examined the effects of methionyl-human growth hormone (met-hGH) and malnutrition on the growth of 5/6 nephrectomized rats and sham-operated controls. One group of sham-operated rats (PFS) was pair-fed with a group of nephrectomized rats in renal failure (RF); another group of sham-operated rats was fed ad libitum (ALS), and a final group of rats with renal failure (RF-GH) was treated with 4 IU/day met-hGH. After 4 weeks, RF-GH rats gained 12.3 +/- 1.7 cm in length; this was more than the 10.2 +/- 1.2 cm gain of RF rats (P less than 0.05). Ingested food was converted into weight gain more efficiently by RF-GH rats than RF rats (267 +/- 26 vs 235 +/- 38 mg weight gain/g food intake, P less than 0.05). RF-GH rats also gained more weight (122 +/- 25 g) than RF rats (98 +/- 27 g), but this difference was not significant (0.05 less than P less than 0.1). Insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I, glucose and insulin levels were not different between RF and RF-GH rats. Food intake of RF and PFS rats was 64% of ALS intake and was associated with poor gains in weight and length by the PFS and RF groups (relative weight and length gains were ALS greater than PFS greater than RF, P less than 0.05 for all comparisons); this suggests that the poor growth of RF rats when compared with PFS rats was due to factors other than food intake. Serum IGF-I levels of 771 +/- 249 ng/ml in PFS rats were lower than levels of 1109 +/- 253 ng/ml found in the ALS group (P less than 0.05); this is consistent with the malnourished state of PFS rats.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)