Horm Metab Res 1973; 5(6): 457-461
DOI: 10.1055/s-0028-1093907
Originals

© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Growth Hormone Levels in Vitamin B6-Deficient Rats

Anastasia  Makris , S. N. Gershoff
  • Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Mass. USA
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
07 January 2009 (online)

Abstract

Weanling rats were fed vitamin B6 deficient and control diets for a three week period. Serum immunoassayable growth hormone (GH) was determined at several intervals during the test periods. Pituitary hormone levels were measured at the end of the test period. Those rats developing vitamin B6 deficiency had consistently lower levels of serum and pituitary growth hormone than ad libitum fed controls. Pair fed controls had growth hormone levels similar to the deficient animals. The results indicated that vitamin B6 deficiency resulted in depressed, but still immunoassayable, amounts of circulating growth hormone. The lower levels may in part be related to the inanition associated with the deficiency. The deficiency did not significantly impair the ability of rats to mobilize pituitary reserves of growth hormone in response to pentobarbital stimulus, which suggests that vitamin B6 deficiency in rats does not affect the hypothalamic-hypophyseal axis.