AI Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the effects of growth hormone (GH) on the growth and metamorphosis of transgenic Xenopus laevis tadpoles, which overexpress a specific GH gene.
- Despite being larger than control tadpoles, these transgenic tadpoles reach metamorphosis at the same rate, but post-metamorphosis, they grow rapidly and exhibit skeletal abnormalities akin to acromegaly.
- The findings suggest GH promotes growth in amphibians similarly to mammals, influencing size without affecting the overall development process of metamorphosis.
Article Abstract
The role of growth hormone (GH) in amphibian metamorphosis is ambiguous based on experiments in which mammalian GH was administered to tadpoles and frogs. We have reexamined the effects of GH by producing transgenic Xenopus laevis that overexpress the cDNA encoding X. laevis GH. These transgenic tadpoles take the same length of time to reach metamorphosis as control tadpoles, but the transgenic tadpoles are twice as large. After metamorphosis, the transgenic frogs grow at a greatly accelerated rate and develop skeletal abnormalities reminiscent of acromegaly. The transgenic frogs are larger than mature frogs in a few months and die in about 1 year. At as early as 10 months of age, the males have mature sperm. We conclude that the growth-promoting effects of GH in this amphibian closely resemble those described for mammals. Although excess GH increases the size of the tadpole, it does not alter the developmental programs involved in metamorphosis.
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| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC26638 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.97.1.190 | DOI Listing |
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