INDUCTION OF LACTOGENIC RECEPTORS IN LIVER OF HYPOPHYSECTOMIZED RATS TREATED WITH BOVINE GROWTH-HORMONE MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODY COMPLEXES

Male hypophysectomized rats treated with bovine (b)GH-monoclonal antibody complexes showed enhanced weight gain compared with animals treated with bGH alone over a 12-day treatment period. Liver microsomes prepared from animals showing enhanced weight gain exhibited increased specific binding of human (h)GH. Studies on the specificity of these binding sites showed that they were lactogenic, 125I-labelled hGH being displaced by ovine prolactin, but not by non-mammalian growth hormones. In this respect they were similar to lactogenic binding sites in the liver of pregnant rats. Monoclonal antibodies to hGH blocked binding to lactogenic receptors to different extents. The pattern of such inhibition was similar, but not identical, for the receptors induced in hypophysectomized rats and those from pregnant rat liver. The evidence available suggests that the lactogenic receptors induced by bGH-monoclonal antibody complexes are not directly involved in the enhancement of growth.