Thyroid hormones regulate pituitary growth hormone secretagogue receptor gene expression

Thyroid hormones regulate growth hormone (GH) secretion by actions both at the hypothalamus and at the pituitary gland. At the level of the pituitary, thyroid hormones increase GH and GH-releasing hormone receptor (GHRH-R) mRNA expression. To test if thyroid hormones might also regulate the pituitary expression of mRNA for the recently identified GH secretagogue (GHS) receptor, GHS-R, primary pituitary cell cultures from adult male rats were treated with triiodothyronine (T3) and GHS-R mRNA levels were assessed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. T3 increased pituitary GHS-R mRNA levels in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The stimulatory action of T3 on GHS-R mRNA levels was also observed in the presence of the RNA synthesis inhibitor, actinomycin D, indicating that gene transcription is not required. Closer examination of the decay rates of GHS-R mRNA in the presence of actinomycin D revealed T3 extended the half-life of the GHS-R mRNA from 8 h (basal) to 15 h, demonstrating that T3 increases GHS-R mRNA levels in vitro by increasing message stability.