Low doses of insulin-like growth factor-I improve nitrogen retention and food efficiency in rats with early cirrhosis

• Published in: Journal of hepatology Vol. 26; no. 1; pp. 191 - 202
• Main Authors: Picardi, Antonio, de Oliveira, Admar Costa, Muguerza, Begoña, Tosar, Alicia, Quiroga, Jorge, Castilla-Cortázar, Inma, Santidrián, Santiago, Prieto, Jesús
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier B.V 1997; Elsevier
• Subjects: Acute Disease; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Body Weight - physiology; Diet; Digestive system; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Feces - chemistry; Food efficiency; Hydroxyproline - metabolism; IGFBP; Insulin-Like Growth Factor I - therapeutic use; Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I); Linear Models; Liver - metabolism; Liver - pathology; Liver cirrhosis; Liver Cirrhosis, Experimental - complications; Liver Cirrhosis, Experimental - drug therapy; Liver Cirrhosis, Experimental - metabolism; Liver Cirrhosis, Experimental - pathology; Male; Malnutrition; Medical sciences; N intake; Nitrogen - metabolism; Nitrogen balance; Nitrogen Isotopes; Nutrition Disorders - complications; Nutrition Disorders - metabolism; Nutrition Disorders - pathology; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Stable isotope 15N; IGFBP; Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I); Food efficiency; Nitrogen balance; N intake; Stable isotope 15N; Malnutrition; Liver cirrhosis; Rat; Liver; Rodentia; Nutrition disorder; Hepatic disease; Experimental study; Insulin like growth factor 1; Cirrhosis; Vertebrata; Chemotherapy; Mammalia; Animal; Digestive diseases; Complication; Biological effect
• ISSN: 0168-8278; 1600-0641
• DOI: 10.1016/S0168-8278(97)80026-8

Background/Aims: In order to ascertain whether malnutrition is an early-onset feature of liver cirrhosis and whether the anabolic hormone insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) could be useful in the treatment of this complication, we analyzed the nutritional alterations present in rats with early-stage liver cirrhosis and the effects of IGF-I on nutritional parameters in these animals. Methods: After a 24 h fast, a 15N-enriched diet was administered for 5 days to normal control rats and to cirrhotic rats receiving subcutaneous injections of vehicle (Group 1) or IGF-I, 2 μg·100 g bw −1·day −1, (Group 2) during the 5 experimental days. 15N, a stable N isotope, was measured in biological samples by mass spectrometry. Results: Compared with control rats, Group 1 animals showed significant reductions in N intake and food efficiency ( p<0.05, both). In addition, the weight of the gastrocnemius muscle, its total N content and the dietary N content of this muscle were significantly lower in Group 1 than in control animals ( p<0.05, all). In rats from Group 2, mean values of N intake, food efficiency, gastrocnemius N content and the amount of dietary N incorporated into this muscle were similar to those in control rats, and (with the exception of gastrocnemius N total content) significantly higher than those in non-treated cirrhotic rats ( p<0.05, all). Conclusions:A variety of nutritional disturbances were detected in rats from the early stages of liver cirrhosis. Low doses of IGF-I were found to reverse most of these changes. These results stimulate further studies to determine whether IGF-I might be useful in the correction of the malnutrition present in patients with liver cirrhosis.