Regulation of local synthesis of insulin-like growth factor-I and binding proteins in mammary tissue

Our objective was to investigate the mammary expression of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and IGF-binding proteins in prepubertal heifers and regulation of IGF-I by bovine somatotropin (bST) and feeding level. Twenty-four prepubertal Friesian heifers were divided into six blocks according to genotype and starting date for the experiments. Within blocks, heifers were assigned to daily bST treatment (0 or 15 mg/d) at low or high feeding level (0.55 kg/d or 1.1 kg/d average daily gain, respectively) for 5 wk so that the mean body weight and standard error was approximately equal for all four treatment groups. At high feeding level, content of IGF-I protein in mammary tissue extracts was increased 46% by somatotropin compared with placebo. Somatotropin tended to increase abundance of IGF-binding protein-3 (40 to 43 kD) in mammary extracts. High feeding level increased abundance of a 24-kD binding protein and reduced abundance of IGF-binding protein-2 (32 kD) in mammary extracts. High feeding level reduced abundance of IGF-binding protein-1 mRNA in mammary tissue, but there was no significant effect of feeding level or somatotropin on mRNA levels of other IGF-binding proteins. These results suggest that effects of somatotropin treatment and feeding level on the prepubertal mammary gland are mediated in part by alterations in local synthesis of IGF-I and IGF-binding proteins.