Differential regulation of transcription initiation from insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) leader exons and of tissue IGF-I expression in response to changed growth hormone and nutritional status in sheep.

In the mammalian insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) gene, exons 1 and 2 are differentially spliced to exon 3 producing alternate class 1 and class 2 transcripts. The aim of this study was to investigate the tissue expression of these leader exons in lambs growing at different rates as a result of chronic manipulation of nutritional and GH status. Riboprobes were developed so that leader exon-specific and total IGF-I gene expression could be determined using a single RNase protection assay. Lambs were fed a diet containing high or low protein content either ad libitum or at a restricted intake; within these dietary groups they were treated with either saline or GH for 10 weeks. Total hepatic IGF-I messenger RNA (mRNA) transcripts were significantly increased by GH (P = 0.004), protein (P = 0.002), and energy (P < 0.001) status as were circulating IGF-I concentrations (GH, P < 0.001; protein, P = 0.026; energy, P < 0.001). Exons 1 and 2 were expressed in liver but to a variable extent. Increased dietary energy and protein induced increased expression from both class 1 and 2 transcripts, but the percent increases was at least 5-fold greater for class 2 than for class 1 mRNA. GH treatment only stimulated significant increases in expression from class 2 transcripts. In the low protein, energy-restricted, saline-treated lambs exon 1 transcripts accounted for approximately 70% of total class 1 and 2 transcripts, and this proportion declined significantly as class 1 and 2 transcripts, and this proportion declined significantly as GH and nutritional status increased to only 30% in the high protein, ad libitum-fed, GH-treated animals; class 2 transcripts therefore displayed the opposite pattern of expression. These data indicate that exon 2 may be far more sensitive than exon 1 in intact animals which have been stimulated within normal physiological limits. Muscle IGF-I gene expression was at least 20-fold less than that for the liver and consisted mainly of class 1 transcripts. Muscle total IGF-I mRNA was insensitive to changed nutritional status or to GH treatment, even though significant increases in muscle growth occurred in response to ad libitum intake and GH, indicating that hepatically derived endocrine IGF-I could have a role in the regulation of muscle growth.